


The Ice Sculptor

by feistypants



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Domestic Violence, Drama, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Open Relationships, Sisters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:52:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 65,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feistypants/pseuds/feistypants
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after the death of her parents, Anna finds herself seeking a fresh start in Anchorage, Alaska, where she reunites with her long-since-disappeared sister, Elsa, who works in the city as an ice sculptor. Long desperate for love, Anna quickly develops a close bond with two men: Hans, the sweet, charming gentleman who's also one of Elsa's biggest clients, and Kristoff, salt-of-the-earth, genuine, and Elsa's best friend. But wealthy Hans has a dark side, and when Anna finds herself forced to make a decision, her new life may just take a turn for the worse.</p><p>[ future graphic descriptions of domestic violence and dub-con ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Elsa’s eyes were glued onto the clock, her toes tapping nervously as she watched it tick, tick,  _tick_  onward. Time was moving painfully slowly as she waited for the hour to come where she would have to leave. It had been years -- five, if she was being specific -- since she had last seen her little sister, and she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy reunion. It had been five long years since she had even  _spoken_  to her. Elsa wouldn’t be even remotely surprised if Anna  _hated_ her.

She recalled the phone call that she got the night before she left.

“ _Elsa? It’s… It’s uncle Kai…” Elsa gripped the phone tighter as he spoke, knowing the tone of voice all too well. It was his_ bad news  _voice. “I have some bad news for you, sweetheart. Your parents… They got into a car accident and… and they didn’t ma--”_

Elsa stood abruptly, pacing in front of her sofa and twisting her hands together. Taking a shuddering breath, she barely managed to calm herself enough to sit back down. “Get it together,” she mumbled to herself, shaky hands brushing her hair off of her face. “Keep it together… for Anna…” She couldn’t let her sister see her like this. Not again.

_There was a knock on her door as she barely managed to fold her clothes and shove them into a suitcase. “Elsa?” the small voice of her fifteen year old sister asked through the barely opened door. “What’s… what’s going on? Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”_

_Turning to face her sister, Elsa took a deep breath. “I have to go, Anna. As soon as Uncle Kai and Aunt Gerda get here I…” She froze, looking at the tears in her sisters’ eyes. “I can’t explain right now, but I promise I will soon.”_

She scoffed, running a hand down the length of her braid before resting her palms in her lap. She really had wanted to explain it to her sister, but when she got a tear filled call from Anna, there was no possible way she could.

“ _Elsa? Please answer your phone. Please. Why did you leave? I don’t… I don’t have anyone else. Elsa please, please. I can’t…” There was a pause, and some distinct sniffling. “I can’t live like this. Not without you…”_

Dropping her head into her hands, she forced herself to think of  _anything_  else. There was only one more hour before she had to leave. One more hour before she was on her way to see her sister. One more hour before she even  _had_ to worry about it. Elsa took a deep breath and stood, moving to continue tidying her small apartment.

\--

Anna clung tighter to her small plush snowman as the pilot announced that they were roughly thirty minutes from their destination. After spending the majority of the last two years trying desperately to find her sister, she was  _finally_  going to see her again. The minute she turned eighteen, Kai had given her access to the bank account where they kept her inheritance, as per request of her parents, and almost immediately, Anna had drained all of the money traveling all over the world to try and find Elsa. She had looked everywhere that the blonde had mentioned she wanted to go… before she gave up and started traveling for herself, while simultaneously trying to find out if she was anywhere  _near_ her.

She never was.

Before she knew it, she had burned through most of her money. And after Kai was laid off from work, Anna couldn’t bear the idea of being a burden to them any longer. She was twenty now, and it wasn’t fair for them to have to help her. She decided she was going to make one last trip, and it was  _going_ to be to see her sister.

Begging and pleading, Anna had finally convinced Gerda to call Elsa, and with even more talking, Elsa had finally let them know where she had been all those years. She had even agreed to help Anna get on her feet.

“ _I know it’s sudden, Elsa… but thank you.”_

The sisters had decided not to talk until she got there.

Kai made all the plans.

Anna buried her face into the almost flattened mess that was her plush -- Olaf, she had named him -- as the plane touched down on the ground. Only baggage claim was standing between her and her older sister. She barely moved, hesitating to grab anything until everyone else had moved forward. Was she ready for this?

\--

Her alarm had gone off, making Elsa almost jump out of her skin and drop the pot she had been washing. It was time to go, and she took a few deep breaths before grabbing her keys and heading out the door. This whole situation felt tense and nervewracking to the blonde, as she started up her engine and headed in the direction of the airport.

When she had gotten the call from Kai, Elsa had almost ignored it, so terrified that something had happened to her sister.

“ _No, No,” he had cut her off with a bit of a bit of a bittersweet chuckle. “We just… Anna really wants to see you. It’s all she wants to do.”_

It wasn’t that she was  _unhappy_ to hear from her pseudo-family… She had just been shocked, was all. After five years, after she had asked them to only call her if it was an emergency, after they had agreed and (very hesitantly) respected her wishes, it had been a bit of a surprise.

“ _I’ll be_ fine _,” she had half-heartedly reassured them. “I have money saved up, and money from the inheritance…” She dragged her bags out the door, throwing them into her car. She looked up to see her Anna glaring out the window. “I’ll… I’ll let you know that I’m safe. Is that enough?”_

_Kai had nodded, giving her one last hug. “I don’t know why you feel like you have to do this… But you’re an adult and I know your parents would have wanted us to respect your wishes.”_

Elsa’s knuckles gripped tighter on the steering wheel as she continued down the streets of the city. It was late enough at night that barely anyone was around, which she was more than thankful for as her thoughts continued to cause her to drift around on the roads.

After a fairly short drive, Elsa could see the signs for the airport on the side of the road. She took a few deep breaths and willed herself to calm down.  _It’ll be fine, Elsa_. She was worried,  _so_ worried… but something deep inside her made her believe that everything would be okay. Anna wasn’t spiteful. Anna had always been the forgiving one between the two of them.

“ _Elsa… I’m not mad. I’m not. It’s been six months. I just want my sister back. Please. I just want to talk to you… I’m lonely and afraid… I… please just talk to me, Elsa. We can fix this. I know we can.”_

Parking and making her way to the waiting room, Elsa did her best to shake these voicemails out of her head. She never had called back… But would Anna be able to forgive her if she found out that it had been  _her fault_ that their parents were driving that night? Would she be able to forgive Elsa for being the reason they were crossing through that light as the drunk sped through the red light?

“ _Why can’t you just_ accept  _this?” Elsa had asked, head down, fists balled at her sides. “It’s what I want. It’s who I_ am _.”_

“ _We’ll talk about it later, Elsa.” Those had been her fathers’ last words to her, as he led her mother out the door. He had a habit of going for drives to calm himself down if he got into arguments. It helped._

The blonde grit her teeth and stepped through the doorway to the waiting area. Elsa didn’t need to let her know just yet. Anna didn’t need to know  _why_ she had left.

She stood, stoic and silent, waiting for her sisters’ familiar head of red hair to appear in the crowd.

\--

Anna stayed in her seat longer than she had thought, apparently, when the tap of a stewardess’ fingers against her shoulder startled her. Blue eyes glanced up to the soft, round face of the woman, who smiled apologetically.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry, but we’ve arrived in Anchorage, and need you to deplane…”

Nodding furiously and apologizing over and over, Anna grabbed her bags and stumbled down the aisle, the strap of her backpack catching on the seats as she made her way down. As soon as she reached the tunnel that connected the plane to the terminal, she paused to take a moment and catch her breath.

“ _Elsa… wants you to come stay with her.”_

_Anna’s jaw dropped with disbelief, eyebrows furrowing together. “She… what? She told you where she was?”_

_Kai nodded, clapping a hand down on her shoulder. “Yes, dear. She did. Now go pack. Figure out what you need right away. We can mail the rest to you.” The smile spreading his cheeks was almost unbelievable._

_As was Elsa_ finally  _telling them where she was._

Sighing heavily, Anna made her way towards baggage claim, waited patiently for her bag to appear, and moved slowly towards the waiting area. This was it. The moment she had wanted for  _years_. But right now, all she felt was nausea.

Closing her eyes, she stepped through the doorway.

Open them.

Come  _on_ , Anna.

Open them!

With one last bit of force she didn’t think she had, Anna opened her worried eyes and glanced around the large room. In a matter of seconds, she caught the icy blue eyes of her sister. She blinked once.

Twice.

Fighting the tears welling up in her eyes, Anna took a deep breath and dropped her bags, running forward as fast as she could.

No words were needed when her arms wrapped tightly around her big sister, who happily returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm. They stood there for a few moments, Elsa stroking nervous hands around her sisters back and hair, Anna burying her face into her shoulder. Suddenly, there was no anger, no worry, and no resentment.

They were just sisters, united again.

Happy.


	2. Chapter 1

Anna followed fairly quietly as her sister led her out to the car, squishing her stuffed snowman as close to her chest as she could without tearing it apart. Taking the bags from the red head’s hands, Elsa smiled as she caught a glimpse of her little plush. “I can’t believe you still have that.”

“What?” She perked up, looking towards her sister.

“The snowman… Olaf is what we called him, right? I…” The blonde smiled, twisted her fingers together and turned her gaze to the ground. “I got that for you when you were three…”

Glancing down to the plush in her arms, Anna laughed. “Yeah, I guess you did. I was crying because I couldn’t reach the crane game...” She shrugged and held the worn down plush at arms length. “I guess I’ve had him forever… I can’t imagine  _not_  having him, you know?”

Elsa nodded, closing the trunk after she loaded the last of Anna’s suitcases in, and placed a tender hand to her little sister’s back. “I understand. It… makes me happy that you still have him. Like… Like I didn’t make you hate me by leaving.” Anna made move to protest, but she stopped her. “Please, I… I’m not sure I’m ready to have the conversation about this yet.”

Biting back her frustration, Anna let her sister lead her towards the passenger side door, and slid in with little grace. “So…” she hummed, pressing her lips together while she waited for Elsa to slide into the drivers seat. “So what have you been doing over the last few years?”

The blonde glanced over towards her little sister as the engine roared to life. “That’s a rather… loaded question, don’t you think?” She backed out, and continued on her way towards home.

“Well I just mean,” Anna started, looking down at Olaf and petting a hand over his bent stick hair. “What’s your job, maybe?” she finished with a large yawn.

Elsa laughed and let her shoulders relax, glancing over to her sister and her heavy eyelids. “I… make ice sculptures. For parties, and such.”

Offering a smile, the red head yawned behind her hand. “That’s… that’s so cool. I remember you liked making sculptures. Why…” and Anna was out, snoring lightly, head flopping over to rest against the window.

The blonde couldn’t help but giggle at her sisters’ snoring, and decided to wait until they got to the apartment to wake her up -- It was barely a thirty minute drive anyway. She stayed silent, driving along still empty roads to her small apartment complex, and pulled into the first empty spot she could find.

“Anna,” she whispered, nudging her sister gently on her shoulder. “Anna, we’re here…”

“Hm?” came a muffled, barely awake response. “What…?”

“We’re home, Anna,” Elsa continued, unbuckling her little sisters’ seat belt and quickly moving to get out of the car. “Let me bring you up and you can sleep in your room, okay?” Elsa walked over to the passenger side of the car, opened the door and helped the red head to her feet.

“Mmmkay,” she hummed, leaning on the blonde. “Can I go to sleep?”

Elsa laughed lightly, walking to the door with Anna in tow. “Of course. Just sleep. I’ll get your bags for you.”

With a flick of her wrist, she unlocked the door and all but dragged Anna through the threshold. “Come on, stay awake just a little longer…” the red head grunted and offered small steps for assistance. “Your room is right back here.”

Walking through the living room, kitchen, and hallway, Elsa led her mostly asleep sister to the small bedroom in the middle of the hall and lay her down on the bed. “All right, here we go... Get some rest, okay?”

Anna smiled, curling herself up under the sheets, and nodded. “G’night Elsie,” she mumbled, dozing off as quickly as she had before.

A relieved sigh passed over her lips as Elsa moved to leave the room and retrieve Anna’s suitcases from the car. It took two trips for her to get everything back in the apartment. She dumped all of the bags next to the couch before falling back onto the couch with a sigh, pulling out her phone, and finally noticing the text alert blinking on the screen.

_[ Hey Ice Queen, how did things go today? ]_

Elsa chuckled, flipping her phone open to reply to her friend.

_[ Fine. It was fine. She’s asleep now. I’ll have to introduce you to her eventually. I think you’d like her. ]_

_[ That’s funny. Don’t play matchmaker. I’m serious. ]_

_[ Who said anything about matchmaking? ]_

_[ Don’t. ]_

_[ Fine, fine. You’ll meet her eventually anyway. I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow, right? ]_

_[ Ice delivery, every thursday as usual. ]_

Picking herself up, Elsa made way for her bedroom, dropping forward and into her bed, falling asleep before she even had a chance to get under the covers.

\-- --

Anna woke the next morning, blinking as she tried to take in her new surroundings. She could hardly remember making it to the apartment, much less into bed. Sitting up, the red head stretched her hands up and over her head, glancing around the room. The walls were a pale green, complemented by dark green bedding and dark wood furniture. Had Elsa remembered her favorite color?

Smiling and snuggling the blankets up under her chin, Anna sniffled, trying to hold back tears. Even if it was still new, she couldn't deny how happy she was to be near her sister again. They used to be so close, until…

She slipped out from under the covers, running hands over her messy, knotted hair, and stood beside her bed. She groaned, wiped a palm over her sleepy face, and immediately realized just how  _badly_  she needed the bathroom… and the fact that she had no idea where it was.

Inching towards the doorway, Anna froze when she heard a voice other than Elsa’s.

“I dropped it off already, woman!” the obviously male voice laughed. “If you don’t trust me you can check before paying me, but I figured you’d rather it go straight to the freezer instead of melting in my truck.”

She peeked out through a slightly cracked door -- there were shadows, but that was about all she could see.

“Yes, I trust you. You’ve been delivering ice to me for  _years_ , Kristoff. You just never do it this  _early_.”

Anna took a step out into the hallway. This apartment was small, how far away could the bathroom be? Glancing around, blue eyes caught sight of a closed door, and she prayed that it was the room she was looking for. She stepped on her tip toes, making quick progress to the door in question. Three. Two. One.

“Good morning, Anna.”

The red head froze, her hand on the door knob. “Oooh… Hi!” she smiled, turning to face Elsa and the strange man. “I… Didn’t want to interrupt.”

“That’s the closet, you know,” the man deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest, her sister laughing behind her hands.

“Well  _excuse you_ ,” Anna started, blush spreading from her cheeks across her nose. “I’ll have you  _know_ , Christopher, was it? --”

“It’s Kristoff.”

“-- That it’s my  _first day_  in this apartment.” She let go of the handle, turning to fully face the two friends. “I don’t think it’s very fair,” she continued, mimicking his posture, “for you to  _judge_  me.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her, let his eyes quickly glance up and down her pajama clad form, and smirked. “Nice shirt. Warm hugs, huh?”

“Wait, what?” Anna’s brows knit together and she gave him a look of pure confusion before turning her eyes down to her shirt. She had forgotten that she wore this incredibly old t-shirt on the plane. It was bright pink and simply had the words ‘I Like Warm Hugs!’ on the front.

Her eyes widened so much that they looked like they might pop right out of her skull, and the red heads’ blush coated her whole face, spreading down her neck. “I… I, um, oh, I…” she clamped her lips together when the blondes started snickering, and frowned deeply. “Y-you know what! You’re a jerk!” Tightening her arms across her chest enough to distort the image, she turned to head back down the hall. “You’d be pretty cute if you weren’t so  _rude_!”

Anna halted abruptly when she realized what she had said.  _Wait, what?!_

He laughed a little harder, and Anna began sprinting towards the back of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Wiping at his eyes as his laughter calmed with a few breathy ‘phew’s, Kristoff turned to the woman beside him. “Your sister is a little weird, huh?”

Elsa smiled, placing her hands on her hips as she faced him. “Not weird, just…” she tapped a finger to her chin. “Adjusting. To be honest, though, it’s been five years since I last spoke to her. She was fifteen…” Shrugging, she pulled her wallet out of her purse. “People change a lot from fifteen to twenty.” Dainty fingers held out the money she owed.

With a nod, Kristoff tucked the cash into his pocket and, hearing a door open again, risked one more glance down the hallway. He caught her eye as she frowned and turned her nose up at him, and couldn’t help but smirk back at her. “She’s pretty weird.”

“I heard that!” Another slam of a door.

“Looks like at least she found the bathroom,” Kristoff snerked with a roll of his eyes. “I can’t believe you  _really_  suggested setting me up with… that.”

Elsa hit him in the arm, frowning. “Be nice.”

Rolling his shoulders, Kristoff turned to walk towards the doorway, giving his friend a pat on the shoulder. “Good luck with her, Elsa. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.” He cupped his hands around his mouth, calling out to the back of the apartment. “See ya around, Red! I hope you get those warm hugs!”

The door cracked open, her mouth peeking out through the opening. “Shut up!”

He laughed again, waving at the smaller blonde and walking out the door. Barely thirty seconds passed before Anna stormed out of the room down the hall. “Your friend is a jerk, Elsa!”

“He’s not, he’s just --”

“Who is  _he_ ,” she started, sitting down on a kitchen chair with a huff, “to judge  _me_. His hair was all long and messy and he  _obviously_  hasn’t shaved and he kind of smelled like a  _wet dog_  --”

“Anna he --”

“And god, I thought he was kind of cute at first but then he opened his  _mouth_.”

“He’s --”

“He’s awful!” she finished, her arms over her head, hands fisted in frustration.

Elsa chuckled behind her hands. “Anna, really. He’s a wonderful person. Just… a little rough around the edges.”

Mumbling under her breath, the red head rolled her eyes. “That’s putting it lightly.” She sighed, tugged at her freshly plaited hair and turned to her older sister with a pout. “Do I have to see him again?”

“Oh, come on, Anna. He’s my best friend. Yes you do.” Elsa moved to sit beside the pouting girl. “It’ll be fine. I’ll tell him to be nicer. Promise.” She couldn’t help but laugh as Anna huffed again, slumping further down into the couch.

When Anna’s stomach growled, Elsa smiled and made way to the kitchen. “Come on, I’ll fix you something to eat. Then we can get you unpacked, okay?”

With one more sigh and a deep frown, Anna stood to move towards the fridge. “Okay. But I don’t want to see his stupid face ever again.”


	3. Chapter 2

When Elsa came in through the doorway, she was greeted by a pajama-clad Anna sitting cross legged on the couch with a box of sugary cereal in her lap. “Heeey,” she mumbled through a full mouth before turning her attention back to the television. “How was your day?”

The blonde sat down with a heavy sigh. “Long. But I finished what I had to finish. The client picked it up already.” She paused for a moment to run a hand down her face. “But I have to go to the gala tonight. They said they,” her fingers made little air quotes as she spoke, “want the artist there.”

Nodding, Anna kept her gaze locked on the television. “Sounds cool.” Another mouthful of cereal. “I bet it’ll be fun.” Her eyes almost seemed glazed over as she let her head tilt and flop to the side.

“You can’t just sit on the couch all day…”

“Says who?”

“Says me.” Elsa stood, all but ripping the box from the red head’s hands. “If you’re staying here, you’re not just sitting around moping, okay? Go out and do something.” She tugged on Anna’s hands, pulling her to her feet. “Starting now. Go shower. You’re coming to the party with me.”

“But  _Elsa,_ ” Anna groaned, digging her heels into the carpet, “I won’t  _know_ anyone.”

“Isn’t that part of the fun? Meeting people?” Elsa turned on her little sister, noticing her gnawing on her lower lip, her gaze turned down. “Are you okay?”

“Look, Elsa… I…” she murmured, twisting her fingers together. “I don’t… I don’t like meeting people at parties. I…” Elsa cocked her head to the side to listen as Anna continued. “I made a lot of bad choices after you left, okay? I got a… reputation.”

The blonde smiled, placing a warm hand on her shoulder. “Anna, no one here  _knows_  you. Whatever that reputation was, you left it back  _there_.” There was the unmistakable glisten of tears forming on her lower lash line, and Elsa wrapped strong arms around her shoulders. “I promise. That’s the past, Anna. The  _past_. You can be whoever you  _want_ to be here.”

Anna sniffled, burying her face into her sister’s shoulder. “Okay. Don’t leave me alone, though.”

“Come on,” she grinned, pushing her sister back so she could take in her full face. “Let’s get you cleaned up. I have the  _perfect_ dress for you. I bought it ages ago, but never wore it.” And after a little convincing, Elsa left her sister to get cleaned up and prepared while she got herself ready.

After a shower, a quick blowout of her hair, and tucking it up into a soft, braided bun, Anna knocked cautiously on Elsa’s door. “Can I come in?”

The door opened to reveal her light skinned sister clad in a floor length sheath silhouetted gown. It was an pale, icy blue, and hung off of one shoulder. The silver trim on the neckline curved around her breast, zig zagging down the side under her arm until it hit the mid-thigh high slit.

“Wow.” Anna’s jaw was hanging open. “Just…  _wow._ I didn’t know… You look beautiful!”

Elsa blushed, opening the door fully and gesturing for her to come in. “Thank you, Anna. I found the one I wanted you to wear,” she said, picking up her skirt to head over to the closet. “It’s a little… fancier than I remembered but...

Reaching deep into her hung clothing, Elsa pulled out a floor length fishtail gown. It had black lace on the bodice, curling in soft curves around her bust. The deep, forest green faded into a lighter olive in the tulle of the skirt.

Anna was bouncing on her heels, grabbing eagerly at the gown. “Oh god. Oh my  _god_ it’s so beautiful!” Holding it close to her face, she was practically hugging the garment before she ran off to get dressed as rapidly as she could.

\-- --

Within the hour, the sisters were walking up the stairs into the main room of the Gala.

Clutching nervously to her sisters’ arm, Anna glanced around the beautifully decorated room. The whole event looked like it was purely decorated with  _ice_. There were dangling crystals, a few diamonds, and it all led your eye into the ornate ice sculpture in the center of the room.

“Is  _that_  what you did?” The red head’s eyes were wider than dinner plates as she took in the intricate details. “Holy  _cow_ , Elsa… You’re amazing!”

Elsa had a ruddiness to her face that the littler sister had never seen before. “Thank you,” she muttered meekly, turning her gaze down to her toes. “I’ll admit that I was nervous for you to see… I haven’t shown them to anyone from the family yet.”

Tugging on her sisters’ arm, Anna made a beeline for the sculpture. “Can we see it up close? I really want to!”

Else grit her teeth and followed her sister, not really ready to take a fresh look at the sculpture. She hated coming to events because she always, without fail, would notice a horribly irritating error in her work. But her sister’s awestruck expression and gentle fawning over the ice made her worries melt away.

“Elsa it’s… It’s so beautiful. How do you do this?” she asked, bottom lip trapped in her toothy smile. “How long does it take? Doesn’t it melt? Doesn’t the --”

“Whoa, Anna…” Elsa laughed, giving her sister a wink and a nudge away from the statue. “That is a lot of questions at once. I’ll answer them another day, okay? You can come with me to my studio whenever you want.”

Giving the blonde a nod, Anna smiled brightly and continued her trek to their table when a slender, red headed man stopped them in their tracks.

“Hello, Miss Arne.”

She looked up at his sharp features and crooked smile, and felt her breath hitch in her throat. Her grip tightened on Elsa’s arm as her sister straightened her posture.

“Good evening, Mister Westergard. I… I hope everything was how you wanted it.”

He nodded, his hands raising to tighten his relatively loose tie. “Absolutely. Your work was flawless, as per usual. I would never trust another with these events.”

Elsa sighed with relief, her shoulders slumping. “I’m so glad. I’d never want --”

“You’re the client!” the red head cut in, almost a scream, bouncing on her feet. Their relationship had taken a little while to click in her head, and when it finally did, she had been excited to figure it out.

He laughed, cocking his head towards the younger girl. “Your sister, I presume?” He turned to face her, a smile stretching his cheeks, and held out a glove covered hand. “I’m Hans. And you’re right, this is my event.” Holding out her hand for a shake, Anna’s face flushed as he lifted it to press a feather light kiss to the top of her knuckles. “It’s a pleasure to meet you…”

“Anna,” she cut in, an almost dreamy sigh whispering through slightly parted lips. “I’m Anna.”

“Well, Anna,” his voice lowered as if to speak only to her. “Would you care to dance with me?”

She bit her lip, glanced over to Elsa, who nodded. “Go on. Call me when you need me.”

Anna lept forward, hugging her sister, and then moved to stand next to Hans. “Okay, let’s dance.”

She swooned in his arms as he placed down his glass of champagne and twirled her out, then back into his chest, catching her waist with his free hand. The music was slow, and he pulled her close enough that she could smell nothing but his light cologne. He led her gently, spinning her in tight circles and Anna couldn’t help but cling tightly to his neck when he dipped her.

“So,” he started, his cheek resting against her temple. “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new here?”

“O-oh, me? Yeah.” Anna bit at her lip again, moving her feet carefully with the rhythm. “I just moved in with my sister a few days ago. She wanted me to get out of the house so she  _dragged_ me here but hey it’s not all bad because you’re pretty gorgeous I --”

Hans laughed, warm and bright, as she rambled on.

“Wait, what?” Anna leaned partially back and away from the businessman, blushing intensely. “That was  _totally_  inappropriate I am so _, so_  sorry!”

He smiled, twirled her under his arm before catching her in another dip. “It’s fine, it’s okay. For the record, you’re quite gorgeous yourself.”

Bursting out into almost hysterical laughter, Anna quickly pressed her lips together to suppress the chortling. “Me? No, oh god no. I’m just… I’m awkward. I’m --”

The song ended, and she was interrupted by the applause of the audience. She felt Hans’ gaze on her, and he smiled as she looked up at him. “Come on, Let’s go for a walk in the gardens. I’m sure you’ll love them.”

Blushing from her cheeks to her chest, an enchanted haziness fell over her face, and she nodded, hooking her small hand through his arm.

The rest of the night almost felt like a dream as he led her around, told her about himself and his family.

“ _Twelve_ brothers? That’s… That’s so many!” she had gasped, her mouth agape. “How… Wow.”

He laughed and nodded. “Yeah. It  _is_  a lot! And three of them pretended I didn’t exist for  _two_ years! We’ve since worked it out, but I’m definitely not as close with them as I’d like to be.”

Anna nodded picking at her finger tips. “I… I understand. I mean, Elsa and I are trying to get close again but… We haven’t spoken in five years before now. It’s hard… I’m so nervous about screwing up again. I don’t know...” She gulped, wiping at the tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what I did before… but I’m so scared of screwing up. I’m scared of her leaving me again.”

He reached forward, grasping her hands in his, and smiled. “How could anyone ever leave  _you_?”

She blushed, glancing down. Anna liked how warm his hand was around hers.

As they passed through the gardens, he would occasionally pluck a flower here and there, eventually spinning them all together into a small bouquet. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she giggled, taking the arrangement into her other hand.

They talked briefly of her past, she told him how her parents had passed, and he expressed his condolences, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She told him about her travels, how she had already been almost everywhere she wanted to go. He told her about his work being far too time consuming for him to go anywhere too far -- but he  _had_ been to Norway, and it was his favorite place so far.

Anna confessed that she hadn’t exactly had the most  _pleasant_  time from age seventeen to right before she moved, that she had been constantly used and manipulated by men who only wanted sex and a toy. How she figured that it was all she was worth. She was  _just_ Anna, after all. She didn’t deserve any more than she had gotten.

“What do you mean,  _just_ Anna? I think… I think you’re pretty spectacular.”

When they reached the fountain in the middle of the garden, Hans smiled and offered her a seat beside him on the stone. “Anna… I know this may be a little crazy…” She laughed, leaning into him to nudge him with her shoulder. “But… Would you like to go out with me? I mean, on a proper date. I’ve…”

A smile brighter than the full moon they were under stretched across her cheeks and she lunged forward to wrap her arms around his neck. “Oh god,  _yes_! I didn’t think you were going to ask I was so  _nervous_ that you weren’t going to and --”

He grabbed her cheeks in his palms and pressed his lips against hers to stop her rambling.

“I think we should head back…” he mumbled against her mouth, a smirk tugging at his own. “Your sister might start to worry.”

Anna nodded, eyes fluttering in a haze of pure bliss. “Yeah…”

Before long, Anna was all but pulling Hans through the party, his eyes locking with everyone they passed. “Elsa! Elsa~!” she was calling out in front of her, sprinting forward when she caught sight of her familiar platinum head of hair. She practically skid to a stop in front of her sister, all smiles and heavy breathing.

She turned back to Hans briefly, giggling and smiling brightly as he glanced around the room. “Well, Hans,” the red head sighed, squeezing his arm in hers once more. “Thank you  _so_ much for a really, really wonderful evening.”

Tilting his head down towards her, Hans smirked. “Of course, Anna. I look forward to setting up our next… outing.” With a gentle kiss to her cheek, Hans bid his farewells and left to talk to, who Anna presumed to be, other clients or colleagues of his.

Startled, the red head turned to her sister whose hand was suddenly on her shoulder. “I guess you had a good night?” Elsa started, a laugh teasing at her lips.

“Oh my  _gosh_ , Elsa. It was…” She sighed, leaning against her sister. “It was just amazing. Did you know how  _amazing_  he is? How… Just  _so_ amazing!”

The blonde chuckled behind her hand, turning to lead her swooning sister towards the door. “Sounds pretty  _amazing…_ Come on, the party is over. Let’s go home and you can tell me all about your magical evening.”


	4. Chapter 3

Anna sighed as she left the apartment complex on foot. She had looked it up before leaving, and the coffee shop that her sister had told her about was only a few blocks away -  _totally_  walkable. Besides, a walk would be just the thing she needed to clear her mind after the rather  _rough_  conversation she had had with Elsa the night before.

Her older sister had seemed a little nervous for the red head when she was telling the story of the night, about how Hans had all but literally swept her off of her feet. About his asking her on a date.

“ _Anna…” Elsa had protested, twisting her fingers together. “You… you barely know him. I…_  I  _barely know him. I just don’t think --"_

“ _But how else am I supposed to get to know him?”_

Anna stopped short, stomping her foot down and crossing her arms over her chest. Elsa was being ridiculous, right? Isn’t the  _purpose_  of going on dates to get to know one another? Besides, if he were  _bad_ , she would have seen it. But there was no way that someone that sweet and kind and  _charming_  could be bad!

With a shake of her head, she started walking again. “Okay…” she mumbled to herself, tapping her chin. “She said two blocks straight… then one to the left, maybe?… or was it three straight then to the right and …” Anna groaned, pulling at her plaits. “Whatever. I’ll find it.”

She took determined steps forward, walking with purpose and humming silly little tunes to herself the whole time. It’s not like she should be upset about Elsa’s concern -- she didn’t even know Hans! Everything was  _fine_ , and she couldn’t wait to get to know him better.

Besides, what did Elsa know about dating or relationships, anyway? She had never dated anyone, as far as Anna knew, and she was completely content with just walking away from her  _family_. If Anna didn’t  _know_ anyone, it was her sister!

Gnawing at her lip, the red head continued walking. It had been a few days and sure, they were  _pretending_ like everything was fine, like they were still best friends, but… She didn’t know her at  _all_. She probably knew Hans better after a few hours than she knew Elsa after a  _week_.

Anna wiped at her misty eyes, and looked around her surroundings. How long had she been walking? “Okay now… I …” She bit at her nails and tried desperately to recognize one of the street signs --  _anything_  would do. Had she taken turns without even realizing it?

“Oh boy…”

Stretching her arms up over her head, she laughed a full, desperate laugh. “Okay! Well! Just keep walking, Anna. It’s probably this way or… Or that…”

She continued walking with her hands up over her head, humming a tune familiar to herself as she developed a small skip in her step. “Makin’ my way downtown --” she started, closing her eyes and stepping in rhythm to the song. “Walkin’ fast, faces pass, and I’m--”

“Hey!”

Anna cut herself off with a “Hm?”, turning to face the street where an old, rusted pick up truck was stopped. She took a few nervous steps backwards before looking in the drivers side window. There sat the big, broad, blond that was her sisters’ best friend.

“Oh. It’s you,” she grumbled, turning to keep on walking down the street.

Kristoff chuckled, driving slowly alongside her on the fairly empty road. “Yep. And it’s  _you_. Now that we’ve got  _that_  out of the way… I’m shocked to see you around town.” He slammed on the brake as Anna whipped her head around to face him. “Elsa said you were a bit of a shut in.”

“I am  _not_  a shut in,” she hollered, throwing up air quotes around her words. “I just… don’t know anyone… or where anything is.” An idea hit her, and she lept forward, running across the road to his car. “Hey!”

He cocked an eyebrow at her and leaned back towards the passengers seat. “Hi…?”

“Elsa told me about this coffee shop slash bakery thing she loves and I was wondering if you could take me there because I’m a little lost but I wanted to get her a treat to apologize for being so snappy with her last night -- oh because last night I met this  _really_   _amazing_  guy, and she’s nervous about me dating him and --”

“Whoa there,” Kristoff chuckled, throwing a hand up in front of her face. “First off, I don’t take people places. Second, I don’t really care about this  _amazing_  guy.” He recalled the frustrated texts from his best friend last night and figured he’d get the more concise story from her later. No need to listen to the airheaded younger sister prattle on and  _on._

“...Wow.”

“What?”

Anna crossed her arms over her chest, turning her nose up to the shaggy blond man -- though she  _did_  have to admit that with a cleanly shaved face and his hair trimmed back he  _was_  pretty cute. “You’re just as rude as I thought you were.”

He flexed his hands on the steering wheel and let out a single breathy laugh. “Yep. You got me.”

Laughing bitterly, Anna turned her head back to glance at him through the corner of her eye. “Let me guess; You’re an incredibly grumpy guy who hates people and likes being alone.”

“I’m  _not_  alone,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. “I’ve got  _friends_.”

“Who, my sister?” she retorted, lifting one arm to point an accusatory finger at the blond. “And by the way I meant to ask about that. Are you guys like, a  _thing_?” The sudden burst of laughter from Kristoff knocked her back, and she shook her head from shock. “ _What_?”

“Me and… Phew! Me and Elsa are,” he waved his hands in front of his chest in protest, “most  _definitely_   _not_  a thing…”

“Well why not?”

He wiped at his cheeks with his hands, his cheeks burning with his long smile and laughter. “Let’s just say… we’re not one anothers  _types_.”

Anna glared at him, but recrossed her arms. “Whatever. Anyway, can you take me there?”

Rolling his eyes, Kristoff shrugged. “Fine.” Nodding his head towards the passenger side, he continued. “Get in.”

Anna let out a little squeal as she ran around the front of his truck and quickly hoisted herself up into the cab. “All right! Off we go! I… Oh. I…” she turned to look at him and rubbed nervously at the back of her neck. “I don’t remember the name of it…”

Kristoff rolled his eyes again, pressing two fingers to the middle of his forehead. “You’re hopeless. Shouldn’t you have brought a map or something?” Sighing and switching his car into drive, he risked one more glance over at her. “You’re lucky I know what her favorite bakery is.”

She slumped down in her seat, placing her hand on her knees. She didn’t know her sister at all, did she? Anna wasn’t even sure what she was planning to buy for her… and even worse, she had to put up with this jerk for longer than necessary… “Yeah, lucky… that’s me.”

All he did was give her a sideways glance to acknowledge how weird he thought she was suddenly being before continuing the drive over to the shop. As he turned corners and made his way around, Anna couldn’t help but laugh at just  _how_  lost she had gotten. It was  _ridiculous_!

When they pulled up in front of the bakery, Anna smirked. “Wow. I was… way off.”

Kristoff laughed, nodding his head. “Yeah. Yes you were. Anyway…” he shrugged, putting the car into park. “So here you go. You can get out of my car now.”

She bit her lip, twisting her fingers together, and turned to face him. “S-sorry… One more thing, actually…” The blond interjected with a groan. “I’m sorry! I just… What does she like?”

Dropping his head to tap against the steering wheel, Kristoff groaned. “Be nice. Be nice…” He rolled his shoulders and killed the engine, turning to get out of his car. “Come on. I have a feeling you’ll forget if I just tell you.”

The red head’s brows knit together as her pouting intensified, and she slid out of the car. “You have such little faith in me, Christopher.”

“Holy shit, it’s  _Kristoff._  Why can’t you  _remember_  that?” He turned to face a smirking Anna, and frowned. “What?”

“It was a joke, grumpy pants.”

He took a deep breath, rubbing his fingers against his forehead. “Elsa just  _had_  to have an  _annoying_  little sister, didn’t she? And I just  _had_  to be nice and pull over and not just drive by, didn’t I?” Anna cocked an eyebrow at him as he threw his hands up in the air. “Good god, she had  _no idea_  what my car looked like! It wouldn’t have  _mattered_!”

She reached forward and grabbed at his wrist. “Okay, crazy. Come on, let me buy you a coffee, or something.”

After waiting in line and ordering drinks -- Anna wasn’t even close to being surprised that he just liked black coffee, and Kristoff was hardly phased that she got a hot chocolate in the middle of summer -- the pair sat down at a relatively secluded table off to the side of the cafe. “Okay…” she watched him take a sip and sigh. “Better?”

Kristoff groaned behind his cup, his eyes narrowing at the red head. “You’re pretty annoying, you know that?”

Shrugging, she blew gently on her hot drink. “You’re no walk in the park, either.” But his brown eyes barely caught the frown and small sniffle that Anna let slip. Was that too mean?

They continued to sit in silence for a few moments, Kristoff staring and Anna keeping her eyes on the table, chewing on her bottom lip. He sighed, placed his cup down on the table and gestured vaguely with his hands. “So what happened?”

“What?”

“With Elsa and this… guy.”

“Oh!” Anna perked up, also placing her cup down on the table. “Yeah right so. We got home from a party --”

Kristoff leaned forward, propping his chin into his hand. He had a feeling that this was going to be a  _long_  story…

“ -- and for most of the night I had been spending some time with this guy, right?”

The blond nodded, took a sip of his coffee, and let her continue. He briefly wondered if it were anyone that he knew before tuning back into her chatter.

Anna took a deep breath. “So I was telling her about how we danced a lot and he took me out into the  _gardens_  and it was just  _so romantic_. Like,” she paused, tapping her finger against her chin. “Like he told me that he thought I was beautiful and amazing or something and he gave me flowers!”

Rolling his eyes, Kristoff shifted to place his palms flat on the table. “Sounds… artificial.”

Blue eyes narrowed at the man and she crossed her arms over her chest. “It was  _amazing_.  _Anyway_. So he took me to the center of the garden and we sat by this fountain and he  _asked me out_  and Elsa just got  _so mad_  about it and I --”

“Wait,” he interjected, lifting an eyebrow at her as she glared again. “How long were you with him?”

“Like… three hours!”

“And you’re going on a date with him.”

“Yeah?”

“Alone?”

“... Yeah?”

Kristoff glanced around the cafe again, cracking his neck and leaning forward. “You should probably get to know him as a friend before you  _date_  him.”

Throwing her arms into the air, Anna groaned. “That’s what Elsa said!” Her voice lowered to a grumble. “No wonder you guys are best friends.”

“I’m just  _saying_ that--”

“Whatever. You don’t know him. I think dating is a  _great_  way to get to know someone. Anyway so then before we left the fountain he  _kissed_  me!” She ended with a wide smirk and an almost squeal with her hands fisted together in front of her chest.

Kristoff’s eyes widened as he pressed his fingers to the side of his face. “Are you kidding me? Now I gotta know. What’s his name? This sounds fake.”

Anna grinned, eyes fluttering dreamily. “Hans.”

Basically choking on his coffee, Kristoff wiped at his mouth. “Sorry. What’s his last name?”

“Uh… Win… Wat…. West...”

“Westergard?”

“That’s it! Wait how do you know--”

Kristoff waved a hand in front of his face and coughed again. “Just know of him. He’s a big name around town. I just... Uh…” He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed at the back of his neck. Hans didn’t exactly have the best reputation, but he wondered if it was his place to say anything about it.

“Anyway yeah,” Anna continued, and he took in a deep breath of relief. “So I told Elsa that I was going out with him and she got  _so mad_  because I barely knew him, you know?”

“Yeah, I do know.” Kristoff placed both hands behind his head and stretched backwards. “Look you, uh, you  _really_  don’t know him.” He met her annoyed gaze with one that matched her intensity. Sighing, he shrugged before grabbing for his coffee again. “Get to know him before you jump into a relationship with him, is all I’m saying.”

Uncrossing her arms, the red head leaned forwards and took a sip of her hot chocolate. “That’s what  _dating_  is for. Duh.”

He rolled his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair again, choosing to change the subject. She obviously wasn’t going to listen, and  _he_ had no desire to try and get through her thick skull. “All right, it’s getting late,” he started, standing up and towering over the sitting girl. “I have to get going. Do you need a ride home?”

Anna’s lips flapped open and closed for a few moments, before she lifted a finger and took in a deep breath. “...Yes.”

He snorted a soft laugh and rubbed at his eye.

“Please!” she finished, standing beside him, skipping towards the door. He nodded, following closely behind her. He flipped out his phone as he walked, shooting off a quick text to Elsa.

_[I just spent a good two hours with your sister. She’s nuts.]_

_[Oh, be nice.]_

_[Is she really going out with Hans?]_

_[... Let’s not talk about that.]_

_[I don’t think it’s my place to say anything but…]_

_[Maybe he’s changed, Kristoff. I trust her judgement.]_

_[I don’t.]_

Anna peeked her head back through the door, glancing up at the blond. He felt a strange blush coat his cheeks at the way her wide blue eyes stared up at him. “Are you coming?”

Wiping at his face, Kristoff nodded and stepped through the door.

The drive was short and quiet -- at least on his end. Anna hadn’t stopped her nervous chatter since they sat down, but the blond had found himself learning how to sort of tune her out. She had talked a little bit about her friends from home (or lack thereof… Kristoff couldn’t really remember), and how all she wanted was to find true love (he couldn’t help but laugh at that one). He joked about how she should meet his family, because they  _loved_  to talk about true love.

They both blushed and shut up after he said that. Anna had never had someone even suggest the idea of her meeting their family before. She had never gotten that close to anyone. Even if he didn’t mean it, it struck a chord within her.

When they finally pulled up to the curb, Anna made quick work of getting out of his car, moving to hastily slam the door shut behind her before Kristoff spoke.

“Ah, wait…” he held out a hand to her. “Give me your phone.”

“What…?” Anna touched at her pocket delicately, narrowing her eyes in his direction.

“Calm down, princess. I’m going to give you my number --” her eyes widened and he ran his other hand through his hair. “In case you get lost again. I mean, uh, I’m off more of the day than Elsa is…” He coughed and tugged on his collar as the redhead placed her phone into his hand.

“But this is only for emergencies,” he finished, punching in the number and handing the slim phone back to her tiny hands. “ _Emergencies_ ,” he repeated, watching carefully as she nodded with understanding.

“Th… thank you,” Anna stammered, staring at his name in her phone.

“It doesn’t mean anything.”

“I… know…”

“Bye, Anna.”

She blinked and stepped backwards from the door, closing it and waving with one hand. Kristoff lifted a hand in farewell and drove off, fighting the blush rising to his own cheeks. Why had he given her his damn number? She could have asked Elsa to call him if she needed it! He groaned and dropped his head onto the steering wheel as he came to a stop, banging his forehead against the wheel. Now she was probably just going to drive him even  _more_  crazy.

Anna watched his truck skid around the corner and turned quickly to run back up to the apartment, immediately kicking off her shoes and sitting in the center of the plush couch. Why had he given her his number? She knew he said it didn’t mean anything… But  _no one_ would give their number to someone they  _hated_ , right?

Did that mean that maybe they could be friends?

Maybe…

Anna blushed, and looked at his name in her phone again.

Kristoff Bjorgman.

Friends? Could they be friends?

She smiled, and pressed her face into her knees.

She’d like a friend.


	5. Chapter 4

_[ Hey Kristoff - Do you mind swinging by the apartment at some point today? My dishwasher is still broken. Landlord is being an ass again. ]_

_[ You got it ice queen. You gonna be there? ]_

_[ No, I'm in the studio all day. But Anna will be home. ]_

_[ …. Greaaaat. ]_

_[ Be nice. ]_

_[ I was very nice. I'm not too excited by the idea of spending time alone with your little sister. Got enough of that last week. ]_

_[ Please? ]_

_[ … Ugh, fine. You owe me. ]_

_[ Always do, Kristoff. ]_

Elsa smirked to herself as she flipped open the novel on her desk in the studio. So what if she had told a little white lie? She wanted her best friend and her sister to get to know one another. The dishwasher would take at least three hours to fix, test run, and clean up. That was plenty of time for them to be stuck together to find  _something_  they had in common, right?

Nodding firmly, her icy blue eyes focused on the words in front of her.

\----

Anna pulled the comforter over her head to block out the sunlight that was pouring in through the wide open windows. Her sister refused to get her any  _decent_  curtains out of fear of her closing them and sleeping through the day, so she figured that the blanket would have to do. Until it got stuffy and hard to breathe under there.

With a groan, she sat up, stretching her arms over her head and running flat palms down her nest of hair. She rubbed at her sleep-crusted eyes and stifled a yawn before noticing the little blue light blinking on her phone. Who on earth would text her before ten?

Detaching it from the wall and clicking on the screen, Anna whined when she saw her sisters' picture flashing on the lock screen. Her text was short as usual.

"Sorry, Anna," the redhead mocked, swiping her thumb up the screen. "Studio today. Don't go anywhere. Maintenance at some point."

She sighed and flopped backwards on the bed, her pillows flattening with small  _puffs_  of air under her head. This was sure to be a boring day, and she knew it. No Elsa. No leaving the apartment…

Sitting up with a huff, Anna tapped a finger against her chin. Well… at least without her naggy big sister here she would have  _whatever_  she wanted for breakfast! Chocolate chip pancakes doused with whipped cream it was!

Anna darted out of bed, tip toed over to her drawers where she had been hiding a few sweet treats (... okay, maybe it was a whole drawer full), and pulled out her overly large bag of chocolate chips and an unopened can of whipped cream. Elsa did keep pancake mix in the kitchen, but it was  _wheat_  and she would make them plain and chop bananas up on top and  _ugh_.

She grabbed for her speakers and her iphone (because what good was an empty apartment if she didn't take advantage and blast her music?) and strutted out towards the main room of the apartment. Making quick work of setting up her music on the dining table, and turning it onto her favorite play list, the redhead took dancey steps back into the small kitchenette.

With determination in her eyes, Anna looked for everything she might need - bowls, measuring cups, spoons, forks, a whisk, maybe? "Better safe than sorry," she mumbled as she glanced through all of the cabinets for the elusive pancake mix. It was when she saw it on the highest shelf of the cabinet that she almost gave up.

She honestly had no idea where the step ladder was, and, with a sigh, moved to stand up on top of the tiny counter edge to reach it. Laughing to herself, she held on to the cabinet with shaky hands - yeah, this was going to end well…

\----

Kristoff groaned as he pulled up to Elsa's apartment, killing the engine and running a frustrated hand down his face. It was the weekend! How on  _earth_  does his best friend always manage to get him to come do her maintenance for her? And why can't she just call her damn landlord?

Rolling his neck, the blond sighed and moved to get out of his truck. Not only did she use him for his fix-it skills, she was also trapping him into at  _least_  three hours with…  _her_. That damn overly perky redhead who didn't know when to stop talking. Was he seriously about to sit with her for  _three_ hours? He had already regretted giving her his number.

Every day, he got at least one text from her. He rarely replied - After all, he  _had_  specified that it was for  _emergencies only_. Plus, they were dumb, cutesy little texts asking him if his day went well. Calling him a 'grumpus', whatever the hell  _that_ was, whenever he actually responded. She'd send him pictures, sometimes, of Elsa doing things. But when he had asked her to stop, she looked so heartbroken that he just decided to suck it up and deal with it.

And Elsa was asking him to  _be nice_? Well, he thought he was  _plenty_  nice.

He heard loud music blaring when he finally reached the door, and groaned again. Really? Really. He had a feeling she listened to top forties pop music, and all of his suspicions were confirmed when he put the key in the lock and opened the door to yet  _another_  radio favorite switching on. When Kristoff heard a creak in the kitchen, he knew it was going to be a little while before he could get in there anyway, so he dropped his toolbox and bag at the front door.

Figuring it would be best to go say hello, the blond made his way to the kitchen, shoulders slumped and head already pounding. He kept most of his body hidden around the corner, and ducked his head in to make an appearance. But he froze, his eyes widening and a light blush forming over his cheeks and nose.

Anna's short form was stretched to its' limit, one arm outstretched and reaching for the top shelf of the cabinet, her baggy shirt lifting just enough to give him a peek of her behind. The bottom of her butt was clearly visible, only enhanced by the cute frilly white trim of her panties. He knew he should look away, but… he couldn't deny she was  _cute_. And…

He cursed himself for his racing mind, trying desperately to tear his eyes away as she climbed up onto the counter, giving him a much fuller view of her underwear.

"Holy shit."

The redhead gasped, turned on her heel and yelped as she lost her footing, slipping from the counter. Kristoff didn't even realize he had reacted until he was holding her bridal style, her hands clinging to his shirt and face buried into his shoulder, while his fingers were pressing firmly against the bare skin of her thighs.

Both their chests were heaving as she lifted her head slowly, turned her eyes up to face him… and blushed deeply when she felt her nose brush against his, his heavy breaths kissing her lips. "Th… thank you," she mumbled, loosening her grip on his shirt.

"Y-yeah…" His voice was just as strained as her as he realized just exactly how much of her he was touching - one hand pressed into the roundness her her upper thigh, the other wrapped around her back, fingertips lightly brushing against the side of her breast… He coughed, tried to ignore the blush rising up his neck, and made a move to set her down on the tiles. "What were you doing up there?"

Anna stepped back slowly when her feet touched the ground, letting go of his shirt and looking down. "I… wanted pancakes. Elsa keeps the mix up on the top shelf for some dumb…" Realization slapped in the face and she suddenly looked up with furrowed brows, as she tugged downward on her T-shirt. "Wait, were you staring at my butt?!"

"W-what?!" Kristoffs' face grew darker, his hand leaving her back to rub nervously at the back of his neck. "Wh… why on  _earth_  would you think that? Y-you almost killed yourself anyway! Sh-shouldn't you be m-more focused on that?!"

Anna snapped forward and raised a hand, her pointer finger wagging in front of his face. "A-ha! You're not  _denying_  it! You were  _totally_  staring at my butt!" A smirk teased at her lips as she failed to keep an aggravated expression on her face. shifting, she crossed her arms across her chest, forcing her shirt to lift just a fraction higher on her thighs.

Kristoff struggled not to look downward.

"I mean…" she started, twisting her hips to glance down at her own behind. "It's a pretty cute butt… I don't really  _blame_ you."

"I was  _not_  staring at your butt!" His hands were tangled in his hair, face ruddy as ever and eyes wide. "I'm… I'm here to fix your damn dishwasher and… you were just  _there_  with your underwear hanging all out and then you  _climbed up_ on the stupid counter and what were you even  _thinking_?!"

She paused and stared at him. "I… I was thinking about pancakes."

He blinked. Once. Twice. Then burst out laughing, hard enough that he had to wrap his arms around his middle to keep from falling over. "You… you're interesting, Anna. You want pancakes bad enough to risk your life?"

Leaning backwards and standing with arms akimbo, Anna frowned at him. "Well I would have been perfectly safe if not for  _you_  scaring the daylights out of me!"

His expression shifted more towards one of confusion as she continued.

"What are you doing, just walking into other peoples' apartments and sneaking up on them like that?" A pout. "Huh?"

Kristoff couldn't help himself but snerk under his breath at her. "I have a key. I come over all the time. It's not my fault you were…"

They stared at one another before both cracking a smile. Anna shrugged, pushed all of her utensils and ingredients into a corner and carefully stepped around him. "Well. You get to work, maintenance man. I'm gonna go put on some pants. Maybe you'll be less of a pervert if I cover my butt up!"

He couldn't help but stare after her as she leaped over the cords and disappeared into her room. Maybe he could stand to be around her just a little more…

Suddenly he burst out into a coughing fit, wiping at his face with one hand and pounding a fist against his chest. No. Nope. He was  _not_  allowed to have any sort of positive thoughts about Anna. It… no! She was irritating and far too peppy and sweet and freaking  _adorab-_

"Ugh!"

Stomping back out to the living room, Kristoff snatched his tools off the ground and moved quickly to set up an area around the dishwasher. He was just… titillated. That was it. He wasn't actually starting to  _like_  her. She was just…

… fairly attractive.

Yep.

That was it.

Kristoff groaned, unlocked his toolbox, and pulled out everything he thought he might need, and got to work. She said it hadn't been draining - that it just poured out all over her kitchen floor. He didn't think it would be too hard of a fix and hoped to get in and out of here as quickly as he could possibly manage. Especially when she came prancing back out with her hair tied up in a messy bun and…

"Those are pants?" he asked, disbelief all over his face.

She stared at him, pulled her loose tank top up to look down and frowned. "They're… just compression shorts, I think?"

His cheeks were burning red again. Those little black shorts were skin tight and barely covered to her mid thigh. How was  _that_  better than underwear?

God, he really had to stop thinking about her in her underwear.

"Fine. Just… don't bug me. I'm working."

He kept his eyes locked onto the work in front of him, missing the way her face fell.

Anna frowned and took shuffling steps to the living room before plopping down on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. What on earth had gotten into him? One minute, they were finally calm and joking and then… what? Was he so annoyed at having to touch her that he chose instead to resent her?

The only noise in the house was the sound of his tools grinding on the metal of the innards of the washing machine, as Anna was too distracted to even turn on the television. He seemed to run so hot and cold - sometimes he was happy to talk to her, others he was cold and incredibly grumpy. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just accept that they were going to have to talk to one another and just be… steadily civil, at least!

Anna jumped when the couch dipped under his weight settling down next to her.

"Done?" she asked, sitting up on her knees to face him.

Nodding, Kristoff tilted his head back to lay on the cushion. "I hope so. Running it now to see." He held out a box with one hand, and smirked over towards the redhead. "Said you wanted pancakes?"

She bounced forward, snatching the box out of his hands and squeaked. "Thank you!"

Before the blond had a chance to react she had jumped over the back of the couch and moved to the kitchen, and he couldn't help but laugh at the clanging of pans and bowls. "Need any help?" he called over his shoulder, wincing when he heard a small scream as a bowl crashed to the ground. "... I'll take that as a yes?"

When she didn't reply, he got up with a groan and made his way to the kitchen. "Anna?" He paused when he came around the corner and finally caught sight of her - she was standing, frozen, with an empty box in her hand, the bag of pancake mix spilled out all over the room, and white powder completely covering her from head to toe.

Her blue eyes turned up to look at him, and he pressed his lips together, eyebrows raising high on his forehead.

"Don't laugh at me!"

"M'not laughing."

When she frowned, her lower lip sticking out in a pout, he broke. Laughter spilled out of him like an avalanche and he couldn't stop.

"Stop!" she whined, stomping her foot and tensing her arms by her sides. "It's not funny!"

"It's…" another laugh. "It's pretty funny!"

Taking in a big huff of air, Anna bent down, scooped up two giant handfuls of the mix and chucked it as hard as she could towards his face.

That shut him up.

He blew a puff of powder out of his mouth, blinked a couple times, and then locked his eyes onto her. "Really? You wanna go there?"

Anna stood still as Kristoff stalked towards her, pressing her back up against the counter. She gulped when his hands landed on either side of her, blushing furiously under the white coating on her face. "Y-yes?"

Smirking, he reached behind her. "Well then." Leaned forward just a little more. "You've started a war."

Her eyes widened and her jaw fell open as he quickly cracked an egg over her head, stepping back and laughing hysterically as the whites dripped down the side of her face. She couldn't deny she was thankful for the white coating on her face. If not for that, she was positive he would see the vermillion of her cheeks.

"And here I was…" she struggled to mumble, grabbing for a dish towel to wipe the egg off her face. "... Thinking you were going to kiss me."

She smiled as she had managed to shut him up yet again.

Kristoff simply cocked a brow at her and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why did you think that?"

A shrug. "I guess I'm just a romantic. Most of the time this kind of situation leads to…" she gave him a small smirk. "...Pretty good making out, you know?"

"Huh." He watched her as she let her hair loose, and started wiping the yolk out with the towel. "Thought you had a boyfriend."

She glanced up, pausing her hands and puckered her lips in thought. "He's not my boyfriend." Kristoff's shoulders visibly relaxed and she continued pulling the towel through her hair. "We haven't even been on a proper date yet."

It was a pretty easy choice, the blond decided, between getting out some built up frustration (it  _had_  been  _years_ , after all, since he kissed anyone) or sitting on the couch ignoring her. Plus, even  _he_  couldn't deny that getting a view of her bottom had been a pretty nice preview.

With a grunt, Kristoff stepped forward and tugged the towel out of her hands. She glanced up, irritation on her face. "Hey! What are you-"

_Oh._

There was no hesitation between them, their mouths fitting together in a new way she hadn't experienced before. Sure, she had kissed Hans… but it was sweeter, gentler. And she had kissed plenty of other men, but those were strangers. Then, it was… sloppy. Kristoff was rough around the edges, and it showed through in every action he performed. But he was clean, deliberate. Everything he did had a purpose.

He pressed her back up against the counter again, his hands wrapping around her waist and lifting her to sit on the ledge. They pressed closer together, her hands wrapping around his broad shoulders, dragging across his worn flannel. When he nipped at her lips, begging for permission to continue further, she couldn't help but hum into his mouth, a smile tugging at her cheeks.

Large hands gripped firmly onto her hips, pulling her further forward on the ledge to press her thighs tighter to his hips. There was a pause for breath, small moans dancing between them as he ducked his head down to latch his lips onto her throat. The redhead caught her lip between her teeth and groaned.

Who would've known that this would happen? Wasn't he being a grump just a few minutes ago? Sometimes he seemed so cold and distant… But how his hands slid over her back, how his mouth moved against her skin was just so  _warm_  in every sense of the word. And when he pulled away, everything felt suddenly chilly. Anna swallowed hard, and lifted her eyes to meet his, inquiring for an answer.

Kristoff just grinned. "You taste like pancakes."

Bursting out into a fit of giggles, Anna nodded. "I suppose I would. You do, too."

He sighed, and took a step back. "I'm…" the blond was suddenly bashful. "I'll get carried away. You're…" He gave her a sheepish grin. "...Pretty much exactly my type so."

"So…?"

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Kristoff shrugged. "I… would feel bad."  
Anna bit at her lip. "Well… I'll stop you. I… want to kiss you mo-"

They both turned towards the door as the sound of a key entering the lock echoed through the apartment. After turning rather dopey smiles towards one another, he helped her hop down from the counter and they stood side by side waiting for Elsa to see them. She didn't say anything about his bag being on the floor or the silence of the apartment as she walked in, in fact, she even wound up walking right past the kitchen at first.

Until she stopped dead in her tracks, took three steps backwards, and turned on the balls of her feet to face the two not-so innocent people standing over the threshold.

"...What happened," she sighed as she took in their powder covered bodies and the mess on the floor. "Do I even want to know?"

"We were making pancakes," Kristoff started, gesturing with his hands in front of his chest.

Anna cut in, mumbling. "And I dropped the box. We were just about to clean up-"

"Yeah," he waved, rolling his eyes. "Don't even worry about us. Give us 20 minutes to clean up and then-"

"We can watch a movie!"

Kristoff glanced down at Anna, smiling. "Yep," he turned his head back to Elsa. "Watch a movie."

Elsa's mouth was still in a straight, pursed line as her pale blue eyes scanned over them. Maybe they thought she was stupid, but she didn't fail to notice that the only places that  _weren't_  coated in the white mix were their lips, their noses, and a little trail on Anna's throat that led to a circle where a light blue was blooming under her skin.

"... Fine."

She walked away, a smile curving on her lips.

Anna and Kristoff just snickered quietly between themselves, happy that her sister had left unaware.


	6. Chapter 5

Elsa couldn’t help but laugh to herself as she closed the door to her room. Did they think she was stupid? Setting her bag down next to her desk, she sighed and gathered up some order forms she had to sort and price before heading back out and down the hallway. She rolled her eyes at the giggling she could hear coming from the kitchen, and jumped when Anna darted around the corner.

“Oh! Hi Elsa!” Anna’s face turned almost crimson as she dusted off her clothes.

Elsa smiled. “Hi, Anna. Going to get cleaned up?”

Anna nodded, a grin stretching her powdered cheeks. “Yup!”

“I…” The blonde lifted an eyebrow. “I see you already managed to…  _clean_  a few places.” She crossed her arms as Anna’s smile dropped and her eyes widened. “Rather odd… To just get your nose and mouth, and…” Her blue eyes darted down to the redhead’s neck. “That… trail on your throat.”

It was almost hilarious how quickly Anna clamped a hand over the lightly bruising spot, coughing and laughing and rolling her eyes. “Whaaaat! Oh, wow. I… I cleaned my nose and mouth um… so… So I could breathe!” She threw a hand up above her head. “Ha, yep! Couldn’t breathe with all that powder…”

They stared at one another in silence for a moment.

“And your neck?”

Silence.

“Must have…” Anna started sidestepping around her sister, backing up slowly into her room. “Must have just brushed it with the towel while wiping the egg out of my hair!”

“The egg was on the other --”

“Okay!” And her door slammed shut.

Elsa shook her head and laughed, taking the few more steps needed to round the corner to the small kitchen in the middle of the apartment. She noted a small pile of flour on the floor near the trash, and made a move to quickly shovel it all in. “So, Kristoff…” She started, bending down to scoop it up. “What on earth happened here?”

He laughed as he shrugged his flannel off of his shoulders, revealing a clean, gray, and rather tight t-shirt underneath. Throwing the last of the dishes into the sink before taking a damp towel to his face, Kristoff cleaned himself up as best he could. “Your sister is nuts, that’s what happened.” He leaned backwards against the counter and shook his head, amusement teasing at his features.

“I come in here, right, and she’s  _climbing_  on the counter trying to get to the damn pancake mix. And I guess I surprised her, she fell --”

Elsa dropped the dustpan in her hand and jerked her head to look at him.

“-- I caught her. She’s fine. No injuries, I promise.” Running still powdery hands through his blond locks, Kristoff sighed. “So she moped around and I felt bad so I got her the pancake mix. Next thing I know, I’m sitting on the couch right, and I hear this loud crash. I come to check on her, and shes  _covered_ in the stuff!” The blond couldn’t help but let out at awkward laugh as Elsa’s eyes bore into him.

“... Right, anyway so… So I laugh at her, and she throws handfuls - and I mean, I thought she had  _tiny_  hands but she sure can scoop up powder - she throws handfuls at me and covers  _me_  with the stuff and then I cracked an egg on her head and…” He froze, swallowing his words and looking at the ceiling. “And then you came home! That’s it.”

Elsa nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. “That’s it?”

“Yep.” He stood frozen.

Moving to run a finger over the counters and check the cleanliness, Elsa laughed. “She’s still just as reckless as ever.” She rubbed her fingers together, happy not to feel powder between them. “She has barely changed since we were kids… Except… She’s much more beautiful now.”

She almost heard Kristoff audibly gulp.

“I wouldn’t know.” He turned around to continue wiping at the counter top. “I… She’s your little sister there’s no way I’ve ever thought of her like that at all ever not a chance.”

Her hands were on her hips as she turned to him. “I thought you had a thing for redheads, Kris. Just because she’s my sister doesn’t mean you  _can’t_.”

“Nope I do not recall ever having a thing for short freckled redheads that’s definitely not me must be your other best friend.” He scrubbed harder.

Before Elsa had a chance to say anything more, Anna came bouncing back into the kitchen, pausing when her eyes landed on Kristoff’s back, toned and clearly visibly through the thin, tight material of his shirt.

“Oh… hey…”

Elsa smirked. “Hi there.”

Kristoff turned on his heel, jumping back when his eyes landed on Anna. “Hey.” He felt his heart speeding up under his ribs, and did his best to try and compose himself. She was just in a tank top and sweatpants, with her hair twisted up into a bun, but something about that was driving him  _crazy_.

He grunted to himself as he turned back to the sink and started hand washing the dishes. Scrubbing harder and harder in order to keep himself distracted. He couldn’t think about how much he wanted to touch her again, feel her against him again, and --

“Well…” Anna’s voice came from the behind the couch. “Do you guys have any preference for what movie we watch?”

Kristoff turned around to observe what he had missed. Apparently they had moved around quite a bit while he was distracting himself. Elsa was already sitting at the table with her order forms, scribbling notes and materials down, while Anna was shuffling through the movies on the shelves. Elsa gave a noncommittal shrug, and Kristoff just didn’t respond.

He could picture Anna pouting.

“Fine! Well then I pick…” She shuffled around a little more, and giggled to herself. “This one!  _Lilo and Stitch_! What a good movie!”

The redhead came bouncing out of the living room, latched onto Elsa’s arm and tugged her out of her chair, dragged her to the couch and all but threw her down into the plush cushions. Kristoff barely had a chance to react before she was standing in front of him, her hands wrapped around his forearm, and her smile beaming up at him.

Damn it. He  _really_  wanted to kiss her again. What the  _hell_  was going on?

Letting her pull him to the couch, he begrudgingly agreed to sit on the other end of his best friend, and leaned over against the armrest, smiling behind his hand as Anna plopped down between them.

“This is one of my favorite Disney movies!”

The little redhead was bouncing excitedly between them, and Elsa was rolling her eyes, partially out of desire to be getting work done, and also because of trying to ignore how adorable her sister was. Kristoff gave them a small sideways glance, ignoring the way a blush rose to his cheeks when she smiled at him.

Soon the movie was playing, and Anna was completely engrossed in it. She was moving her mouth along with the words, shouting out some of the lines and giggling behind her hands.

Kristoff almost lost control when she pouted, her plush lips becoming even more obvious. He groaned and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, prompting Anna to turn her head to look at him.

“You okay?”

“Mhm.”

Twisting around on the couch, Anna flopped backwards onto Elsa’s lap, and threw her feet onto Kristoff’s. “You guys are so quiiiiet!” she whined, pinching at Elsa’s cheeks. “Why don’t you talk more? Did something happen while I was in my bedroom?”

Anna watched with interest as Elsa smirked over at Kristoff, as he frowned and cocked an eyebrow back at her, and they both stayed silent.

“... What happened?”

“Nothing,” Kristoff grunted, running his hands absentmindedly over her small feet and ankles. He was dying to touch her, and he had little control over his hands at this point.

“Seriously! Did you guys like kiss or something?” There was a minor hint of jealousy in her voice.

Elsa burst out laughing, shoved her sister off of her lap and stood up to walk back to the table and finish her work. “That’s hilarious,” she snorted, sitting down. “No, believe me. Kristoff and I haven’t ever, and will never, kiss. Ever.”

The redhead sat up, frowning, before flopping over onto Kristoff’s lap. Kicking her feet up onto the now empty armrest, Anna couldn’t help but grumble out an almost inaudible “good” before turning her attention back towards the movie.

Kristoff stiffened under her, whimpering lightly when her hand grabbed his, pulled it in front of her, and her dainty little fingers started playing with his calloused, much more thick ones. With slight hesitation, the blond started running his other hand up and down her upper arm, and relaxed into her touch. He couldn’t deny that he liked how this felt. It felt… normal. Warm. Nice.

“You two sure are affectionate.”

They both jumped at Elsa’s voice, looking up at her leaning over the couch. She simply smirked down at them and laughed. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Kristoff stood quickly, grabbed his bag and muttered something about having to pick up Sven, and was out the door before either girl had a chance to react.

Elsa would have laughed if not for the concerned, upset expression slowly blossoming on Anna’s face. She noted the way her sisters’ jaw clenched, lips turned downward, eyebrows drew together, and placed a hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Blue eyes turned up, and a smile stretched her cheeks. “Yep! Fine. Can we just finish the movie?”

With a nod, Elsa sat back down beside her sister, letting her lay down and curl up in her lap. What had happened between the two of them?

\----

Kristoff had run so quickly from the apartment and down the steps that by the time he reached his truck, he felt winded. He took a moment, after throwing his bags into the back of the cab, to sit and breathe. What on  _earth_  had he been thinking up there? Kissing her? And then letting her lay on him and  _touching_  her and --

 _No_! He wasn’t developing  _feelings_  for her. He just… couldn’t be. She was  _insufferable_! If anything he was just… lusting. Yeah. That’s it. She was exactly his type. Small, freckled, long red hair… It was all about her  _appearance_ … Obviously!

Laughing to himself, he turned his key in his ignition and shook his head. “Yep,” he muttered to himself. “Just… physical attraction.”

He rolled his shoulders, pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. They had nothing in common, honestly. And she was far too perky and loud for his tastes.  _And_  she was always moving! The girl didn’t know how to just sit down and shut up. There was  _no way_  he could like  _her_!

Knuckles turning white as he clenched the steering wheel, Kristoff moved to back out of his spot, still shaking his head to himself.

She didn’t want  _him_. She just wanted to blow off some steam… right? She had fancy pants Mister Westergard courting her. Why on earth would she have any interest in a construction worker?

He felt his stomach drop.

Why did he care? He didn’t care…

He didn’t care.

\----

When the movie had finished rolling, Anna was back to pouting as her sister ran comforting hands through her hair.

“So what happened?” Elsa asked, voice low and soothing.

Anna bit at her lip, tugged at a loose thread on Elsa’s pants, and sighed. “We… kind of… kissed. Maybe. A lot?” At her sister’s lack of a reaction, Anna laughed. “But you totally knew that, didn’t you.”

“I’m more perceptive than you think, Anna.” The blonde watched her little sister flip in her lap and stare up at her. “Do you like him?”

Hands covered her blushing face with her hands and grumbled. “I don’t know… I don’t  _think_  so. I just think he’s cute. Plus,” she paused, sitting up and wiping her hands on her thighs. “I’ve been kind of talking to Hans? I mean… it’s not like we’ve gone out yet or anything but… I  _do_  like  _him_ …”

Elsa laughed and patted her sister’s head. “Well. I guess you’ll find out, hm?”

A frown was all that Anna had to answer with, before she poked at Elsa’s arm. “So what about you?”

“Hm? What about me?”

Anna grinned, wiggling her eyebrows up at the blonde. “Do you have a  _special_  friend in your life?”

“I… uh…” Elsa gulped. She wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about this part of herself with her sister. The only person who knew was Kristoff - and it had taken her a couple years to tell him. “Maybe. But… no. There’s no one right now. But that’s okay,” she finished with a smile, pinching at Anna’s cheek. “Besides, I’m way more interested in getting to know my little sister.”

A frown turned into a sheepish smile, Anna blushing under her hands again. “Yeah, me too.” She drew her knees up under her chin. “It’s weird, isn’t it? That we could be sisters and barely know one another?”

Elsa felt guilt prickling under her skin.

Biting at her lip, Anna continued. “I missed you, Elsa. I missed you so much.”

Elsa’s arms came around her, then, hugging her close and clinging tightly. “I missed you, too, Anna. I’m so sorry that I left you… I shouldn’t have…”

“Elsa, don’t be sorry… I know you had your reasons. I wish you would have told me but…” She squeezed the blonde back. “But I understand.”

They embraced in silence for a few moments, before Elsa pulled back.

“Do you want to see my studio, one day? I can show you what I’ve been doing...”

Anna’s eyes lit up, and she bounced in place. “I would  _love_  that!”

\----

Hans tapped his fingers against the desk rather impatiently. His eyes skimmed over the text messages from the last few days that he had shared with the ice sculptor’s sister, and smiled to himself. She was definitely… willing. It felt like he already had her wrapped around his finger, and he knew that would just make everything easier.

He had missed this feeling.

The one that you get when courting someone new.

When you’re still trying to  _get_  them.

He ran a finger over the screen, over the picture she had made him take on their first meeting. Well, they certainly  _looked_  good together… That was a bonus. His father had said that if he didn’t start settling down, there was no way he even had a chance to be in the running to inherit their business.

So he was  _trying_.

Maybe Anna was the one. Unlike the  _last_  two.

Dialing the number and pressing his phone against his ear, Hans waited patiently for her to pick up on the other end.

One ring. Two. He started tapping his foot. Three. She finally answered.

“ _Heeello?”_

“Hi, Anna!” He put on the cheeriest voice he could manage.

“ _Oh, hi! How are you?”_

He forced a grin onto his lips. “I’m absolutely terrific. But look, I’m going to get right to the point, here.” He could feel his fingers clenching on the side of the table. “Would you like to go out on a proper date with me? Dinner… A movie… the works?”

Anna was silent for a moment, before she burst out into giggles.

“ _Oh, yes! Yeah! I’d love to! To be honest I really was starting to doubt you’d ask. I thought maybe I did something wrong or maybe--”_

“So tomorrow night? Does that sound good?” She really did love to talk.

“ _Sounds wonderful.”_

“Perfect. See you then.”

Hanging up the phone, Hans sighed and rolled his shoulders. Just as planned.


	7. Chapter 6

“I can never do this right,” Anna started as she played with the now cool curlers, watching with interest in the mirror when her hair fell in soft curls down the side of her face as Elsa pulled them loose. “You’re good at this.”

Elsa stood behind her little sister, running her hands gently through the curls to break them apart. “Mama taught me how…” She pulled a couple pieces back to style Anna’s hair into a simple, but still pretty, pin up. “You were always a little too impatient to make them work properly,” she finished with a laugh, smiling wider when her sister pouted. “No offense.”

Anna crossed her arms over her chest, letting her sister continue to play with her locks, and frowned deeper. “Yeah, yeah. I know. I just wear my hair in braids all the time because It’s simple.” She shrugged. “Too much hassle.”

Another little laugh, one more pin, and “All done, Anna.”

Leaning forward, she twirled eager fingers through her hair. “I love it!” she exclaimed, jumping up and forward to wrap her arms around her sister’s shoulders. “Thank you!”

There was no denying that Anna was ecstatic for her date with Hans tonight, and she was  _ trying  _ to stay focused on that instead of what was tickling the back of her mind - in fact, she was doing  _ wonderfully _ at ignoring the dumb blond that kept flashing in her peripheral. She had spent the day doing her nails, picking out a perfect outfit, talking with Elsa… everything! There was no reason that he should be on her mind at  _ all _ .

She had been doing so well.

“So…” Elsa mumbled, sitting down in front of the vanity as the redhead bounced around the room, gathering up all of her belongings. “Are you just kind of ignoring what happened with Kristoff?”

Anna visibly jolted, tripping over her feet momentarily before regaining some semblance of control. “What about it? It was just a kiss.”

“ Kristoff doesn’t  _ just  _ kiss people…” Elsa wrung her fingers together, rolling her shoulders. “In fact, I don’t think he’s kissed  _ anyone _ in all the years I’ve known him…”

Shrugging, Anna moved back towards her closet to pull out a dress. “Well, he did. It’s not like he’s tried to talk to me in the last twenty-four hours.” She laid it flat on the bed. “It obviously didn’t mean anything.”

Elsa averted her eyes as her sister pulled the short green dress over her head, and pressed her hands against her thighs. “I suppose that’s true…”

She didn’t plan on admitting it to her sister, but she felt it in her gut that there was  _ something _ going on in Kristoff’s head. In five years, he hadn’t kissed anyone - hadn’t even expressed  _ interest _ in anyone. But Anna had managed to get him to kiss her and loosen up, and that just struck her as  _ odd _ .

“Well, what do you think?”

Looking up to find her sister twirling, the skirt of the dress puffing out around her thighs, Elsa smiled. “You look beautiful, Anna.” She stood, placing soft hands on her sister’s shoulders. “Hans is going to love it. He’s going to love  _ you _ , Anna.” 

“ Whoa there!” Anna laughed, shaking her hands in front of her face. “I’m not talking about  _ love _ here... That’s…” She rubbed at the back of her neck, shrugging. “That’s fast!”

Before Elsa could protest, Anna smiled. “I know, I know. Not what you meant.”

Her phone began buzzing on the table by her bed, and the redhead almost tripped over her own feet racing to grab it. “Hello? Oh hi! Yeah, I’m… almost! I’ll be down in five minutes!”

Elsa turned and waved, leaving the room and heading out towards the kitchen, smiling behind her hand as her little sister squealed and scrambled about the room to gather her final belongings. It had been barely a few minutes before Anna came sprinting out of her room, bag in hand and pulling her shoes on, and bid a quick farewell to her. 

\---

  
  


By the time Anna had gotten out to Hans’ car, she was almost breathless. He was standing beside it, a single rose in hand, and a smile plastered across his face.

“Hi!” He waved before lifting his sunglasses up and placing them on top of his head.

Anna was honestly awestruck, eyes scanning over his completely put together form, and landing on the obviously incredibly expensive Mercedes parked next to him. “Wow. I… Jeez… I feel…”

He was growing impatient with her incomplete sentences. “What’s wrong, Anna?”

Waving her hands in front her face, she blushed and tried her best not to stammer. “Oh, gosh. Nothing’s  _ wrong _ . I just feel under dressed because your shirt just looks so soft and are you wearing  _ slacks _ and... and…  _ wow _ that’s a nice car.”

He bit his tongue. She really did love to talk. 

“Oh, this?” Hans ran a hand along the edge of the door, smiling. “It’s nothing.”

Watching her eyes still scanning over the smooth frame, he stepped forward and grabbed gently at her hand. “Here,” he started, holding out the rose. “This is for you. The best one I could find.” He took note of her blush and smiled. Easy. 

“You look beautiful.”

Her blush deepened, and he walked her over towards the passenger side of his Mercedes, opening the door for her. She  _ was  _ gullible, wasn’t she? By the time she had slipped into the seat and the door shut behind her, Hans had stiffened his shoulders again and stalked back around the back of the car, out of her view. 

He’d have her wrapped around his finger in no time.

The car ride was simple enough. He just let her talk - she  _ loved _ to talk - and nodded along, occasionally interrupting with his own thought…  _ story _ . She mentioned how she was new to town and reconnecting with her sister after five years. He told her that he had been living here his whole life, that he didn’t really know much else.

Stories. 

Maybe they held some truth, but he wasn’t about to tell everything to this mouthy little girl.

By the time they had reached the restaurant, Hans wasn’t sure he was going to be able to handle her prattling for another few hours. Why did he have to pick someone who talked so much? He could have easily tried for someone much more subdued…

“So anyway I kind of ran out of money and --”

“Shall we?” Hans glanced towards her with a smile, opening the car door on the other side of him.

“Oh! Yes!”

He moved quickly to get out of his car and took a deep breath as he stood still for a moment, gathering himself. It’s worth it.

A few steps around the front of his car and he turned to find the little red head struggling to get out of the seat, her face flushed with embarrassment. He laughed, and held out a hand for her. “Need help?”

Anna looked up at him, her cheeks burning. “Oh, gosh. Um…” Grabbing his hand, she let him help her lift herself out of the seat. “Low seats… Hard to--” The next thing she knew, she was flush up against his chest, his hands holding firmly under her elbows. Blue eyes looked up anxiously, flush spreading down her neck to her chest. Had she tripped over her own feet? Did that really just happen? “... get out of…”

His grin widened. “Glad I caught you.”

Smiling, Anna began to laugh and push herself up off of his chest. “Me, too…” His hands were warm and gentle, and she really didn’t want him to ever let go of her.

Hans found this whole exchange sickening, if he was being honest.

She stood beside him, dusting off the front of his shirt, her eyes downcast and cheeks still pink. “I’m sorry… F-for falling on you. I’m… I’m…”

“Awkward?” He winked, reiterating her statement from their last conversation in hopes to give her back that romantic feeling… without much effort.

The smile that stretched her cheeks told him he had been successful.

“Now, come on,” he hummed, holding out an arm for the girl to hold. “Reservation is in five minutes.”

Anna hesitantly wrapped her small hands around his arm, admiring the soft fabric under her fingertips, and trying not to focus on the obvious muscle under his sleeve. He wasn’t nearly as big as Kristoff, but he was toned under his clothing. 

Wait, what? Shaking her head, Anna scolded herself. She shouldn’t be thinking about  _ Kristoff _ ! Shouldn’t be thinking about how his shoulders rolled under her hands, about how his fingers dug into her hips and pulled her flush against his body. Or how his lips felt against hers, his tongue sliding against hers and…

“Anna?” Hans was staring at her, his face rather close to hers. “Are you okay?”

She looked around to see that they were standing in front of a table, his hand resting on the back of her chair and his fingers intertwined with hers. When did they get here? Was she that lost in her thoughts? About someone  _ else _ ?

Laughing and squeezing his hand before sliding into the seat, Anna smiled. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine! Just got a little… lost in my thoughts I suppose.”

Hans simply cocked an eyebrow at her before forcing a smile and sitting across from her. He was going to kill this girl before he managed to get anywhere significant, wasn’t he. “Happens to all of us, Anna. Thinking about anything in particular?”

Her face grew red, and she stiffened in her chair. “N-nothing really! Just…” She paused when the waiter poured water for them, snatching up the glass and taking a few sips of water. “Just… Was thinking about how I never thought I’d get to be on a date with someone like you…”

Someone like him? “How so?” He was interested.

“Oh…” She twisted her napkin in her fingers, smiling up at him. “Most of the people…” A nervous bite of her lip. 

He watched with examining eyes.

Catching his gaze again, Anna continued. “Most of the people I dated were… Not pleasant. Mostly they just wanted to hook up and leave afterward. I guess I wouldn’t really call that dating.”

A brief pause as the waiter took their orders and scrambled back off to the kitchen.

“I guess I just never thought that I would get to date someone so…” 

His smile grew.

“Kind.”

_ Perfect _ .

He shrugged and rolled his eyes, laughing lightly behind his hand. “I can’t believe that anyone would want to treat you so badly.” This was going to be easy. “You’re wonderful. Already better than anyone I’ve dated.”

Anna flushed, a nervous laugh forcing its’ way out of her chest. “Am I?”

Reaching to grasp her hand. “Definitely.”

This was going to be  _ so  _ easy.

The rest of the date went similarly. Anna would reveal something of her past. Hans would give her an almost truthful story that reflected hers. They would exchange small words between bites, most of them being Anna’s, much to Hans’ dismay. She would offer him bites of her food, which he felt was all too comfortable for someone she barely knew… but if it made her trust him, he would do it. 

By the time the waiter had asked if they wanted dessert, Anna was visibly comfortable with the man in front of her. 

“Oh!” she had exclaimed, tugging on his hands. “Do you like krumkake? I haven’t had krumkake since… for a long time.” She paused for just one moment, before perking back up again. “I can’t believe they have it!”

Hans smile was growing slightly more tight lipped with every passing moment. He was just happy she wasn’t noticing. “I’ve never tried them. Do you want to get them?”

“Oh please! Can we?”

“Of course we can.”

Willing himself to relax, Hans excused himself for a moment to use the restroom. He needed a quiet, private place to drop his front, if only for a minute. He had to keep it together. This was only the beginning. And if he wanted things to go smoothly, he had to play the game - had to keep up his charade until she fell in love with him.

He hoped it wouldn’t take long.

While Hans had been gone, Anna wasn’t sure how to keep herself occupied alone at the table. She glanced around the room, taking note of all of the sweet faces of couples who were having a date night - from elderly pairs who had obviously been together for a long while, to others on first dates like her. Unfortunately, she could see a few couples not enjoying their night, and she was more than thankful that hadn’t happened to her.

With a sigh, she glanced out the window, at what happened to be the exact right moment.

Kristoff was walking along the edge of the building, dragging behind Sven and glancing at his phone. 

She twisted her body in her seat, staring out the window and waving eagerly, hoping to catch his attention. When brown eyes turned towards her and his cheeks flushed red, Anna pulled her hand back to her chest. Did he not want to see her? 

She supposed not, considering he hadn’t talked to her since…

The chair across from her screeched against the hardwood floor, causing her to jerk her gaze back towards the man she was currently here with. 

“What were you looking at?”

“Oh! Just…” Anna looked back at the window to find Kristoff was long gone. “A friend walked by. I was just waving hello.”

The waiter set down a plate with two krumkakes on it, and quickly skittered away. 

“Oh, yay!” She picked one of the pastries up in her hand, laughing as Hans approached it with a fork. “No, no!”

He paused, looking at her skeptically. 

“You just pick it up and put the whole thing in your mouth!” Anna giggled, puffing some of the powdered sugar off the top of the treat, and watched as he picked it up and held it in his hands. “All in one bite…” Her smile grew as he placed it between his lips and popped the entirety of it into his mouth, laughing. “There you go!”

Unable to resist it anymore, she followed suit, closing her eyes and sighing with joy as the familiar flavors washed over her tongue.

“That was delicious,” she heard, vaguely far away from her, and she smiled.

“Just like mama made…”

They remained silent for a few moments, both offering smiles to one another.

“Ready to go?”

Anna wasn’t sure she wanted the night to end. But it was only the first date, she reminded herself. She shouldn’t be getting carried away.

“Sure.”

\----

Elsa jumped as Kristoff came barging in to the apartment, Sven barking the second they crossed over the threshold.

“Elsa!”

She came out of the kitchen, placing down her towel and raising her hands up in front of her chest. “Shh, please. It’s late!” 

He looked like he had just run a marathon.

“What’s wrong?”

He took a deep breath and placed a hand against his chest. “You… you let her go out with Hans?”

Frowning, Elsa stepped forward. “I didn’t  _ let _ her. She’s not… something I can  _ control _ , Kristoff…” 

“ He’s a dirtbag!” He threw his arms out in front of him. “Don’t you remember what I told you? I’ve known the guy since I was thirteen.” A pause. “He’s  _ always _ been the same.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s an adult. And I trust her. If she trusts Hans, I trust that she’s making the right call.”

Kristoff’s grip on Sven’s leash was tight enough to make his knuckles go white. “They  _ always _ trust him. And I don’t trust any of them. And you obviously don’t trust me.”

Her brows furrowed together in worry.

\----

The car ride was quiet. He held her hand, but didn’t say much. Anna figured he was as sad about it ending as she was, and squeezed his fingers gently. When they pulled up to the front of her apartment complex, Hans moved quickly to help her out of the car and walked her slowly to the entrance door.

She shuffled her feet against the concrete sidewalk when his arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her closer. 

“So…” Hans started, slowing to a stop when the reached the single step up. “Did you have fun?”

Smiling and turning to face him, Anna nodded her head. “Yes. I did! I… I liked talking to you.” 

He couldn’t help but laugh. At least she somewhat admitted she did most of the talking. Maybe he could teach her how to be quieter, as time went on. “I enjoyed talking with you, too. It was nice.”

Anna took a deep breath, and stepped a fraction closer to him. “I hope we can go out again.”

So simple. So easy.

Lifting his hands to cup her jaw, Hans pulled her in close to press a kiss against her lips, and smiled when he felt her melting into his touch. Three… Two… One…

He pushed away, smiling down at her red cheeks. Just long enough to make her happy, but short enough to make her want more. He had done this song and dance plenty of times before. And now she would fumble over her words and think about him for the rest of the night. 

“Well…” she sighed, eyes fluttering open and a softness turning up her lips.”Goodnight…”

“Goodnight.”

He watched her go through the door and run up the stairs out of sight. He walked back to his car, slipped in behind the wheel, and sighed. This was going to be irritating.

But if it meant consideration for inheriting the company…

It’d be worth it.

\----

Anna came skipping up the steps and through the doorway, still on a high from the end of the date, to walk in on a tense Elsa and even more angry looking Kristoff.

“Um… Hi?”

They both turned to look at her.

“What’s… going on?”

Kristoff looked between the two sisters. “Well? Are you going to tell her?”

Elsa gnawed at her lip.

“Fine.” He swung his whole body around to face Anna straight on, and placed his hands on her shoulders, causing her to jump. “Hans is not a good guy. I don’t think you should see him again.”

“Excuse me?” Anna stared at him incredulously. “And who are you to tell me who I should and shouldn’t see?”

His grip tightened on her shoulders. “Someone who has known that asshole for ten years.”

Shoving past him, Anna moved to stand beside her sister. “Elsa? What do you think?” Her fingers were twisting around her bag, a nervous habit she had since she was a child.

“I…” 

Kristoff’s eyes grew darker, pleading with Elsa to let Anna know the truth. 

“I think you should do what you think is best, Anna.”

Elsa winced when she heard Kristoff scoff, mutter a quiet “fine then,” and leave, slamming the door shut behind him. She knew he’d come around eventually, but she never liked it when he was angry with her. He wasn’t angry often, but when he  _ was _ …  It took a lot of persuading to get him to come around.

Plopping down on the couch, Anna sighed. “What does he know?” She rolled her shoulders. “He probably knows Hans from when he was younger. He told me he’s been in a lot of bad relationships…” Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag. “We had such a good time, Elsa… He’s sweet and kind…”

A nod from the blonde, and a pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure Kristoff is wrong about him…” Elsa smiled down at her little sister. “He’s a great guy, but he holds grudges. If Hans did anything to him ever, he wouldn’t have forgive him.” 

Hearing Anna sniffle sent Elsa back, back to childhood, and she immediately rubbed a hand across her back. “Why don’t you go get comfortable… then you can tell me all about it, all right?”

Anna nodded and left the room, leaving Elsa by herself.

She hoped, with everything she had, that Kristoff was wrong.

But she had a feeling he wasn’t.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished early in the morning, but posting regardless. I'll probably wind up editing for SPaG errors again when i wake up, but please let me know if there are any glaring errors that you noticed. thanks!

Anna had been living with her sister for a few weeks now, so she had gotten much more used to the layout of town. Well… at the very least she knew how to get to the bakery, coffee shop, and Elsa’s studio. So on her way to the studio, she had  _ definitely _ made sure to stop at the bakery. 

Elsa loved chocolates just as much as she did, she remembered, so Anna had made sure to pick up the fudgiest cake she could see in the glass display case.

The studio was about five miles away, but Anna never minded walking. She  _ was  _ a cross country runner in high school, so walking five miles wasn’t much to her anymore. Even though it had been a few years, and she definitely couldn’t run like she used to, walking was fine. 

Anna took a deep breath when she saw the door of her studio just down the road. This was going to be her first time  _ really  _ alone with Elsa. Sure, they had been alone together before, but they were at the apartment, watching movies, or television, or doing something… but now there really wouldn’t be all that much to distract them from  _ talking  _ the whole time. As soon as Elsa had finished showing her the studio, what else were they going to do?

Talk.

Fumbling around in her bag for the key that Elsa had given her, Anna took the few final steps it took to reach the doorway, quickly unlocking it and stepping into the frigid room. She shivered, cursing herself for not bringing a heavier sweater, and walked through the small hall to the open studio.

“Elsa?”

She didn’t hear any response - or any noise at all, really - and glanced around to see if there was any sign of --

“Oh…”

Face down on her desk, there was Elsa, sound asleep. Anna  _ had  _ thought she didn’t come back to the apartment last night. Did she really sleep on her desk all night, though? That couldn’t have been comfortable. 

“Elsa?” she asked again, taking a few steps towards the hunched over woman. When there was no sign of her moving, Anna grinned and set the cake down against the wall. This might be her only chance to look around without the awkwardness that was bound to come with them finally just talking. 

She knew the past was going to come up.

She wasn’t sure she was ready to tell Elsa about what she had done over the last five years.

She wasn’t exactly proud of it.

Sighing, Anna rubbed her hands up and down her arms, and moved towards the wall where some sculptures of varying levels of finishedness sat, and bent at the waist in order to get a closer look.

Elsa sculpted everything, didn’t she! There were animals and people and mythical creatures lining the wall, and Anna couldn’t believe the detail in some of these figures. How could someone make  _ ice  _ look so… lifelike? If it weren’t clear and, well, made of ice, she would be tricked into thinking these were  _ real  _ creatures.

She wanted to touch it so badly, to feel the crisp, carved edges… but would the heat of her hands melt it at all? That wasn’t a risk she was quite ready to risk ruining something of Elsa’s - she was still cautious around the apartment, even. 

Blue eyes scanned over the sculptures, one by one, until they landed on a tall, locked, black freezer. Running her hands over it, Anna sighed when she found it was locked. Was it something… risque? Or violent? Or just the storage freezer, maybe? 

She looked behind her, noticing the much larger silver freezer, that kept everything crisp.

So it couldn’t be the storage…

What else would Elsa keep locked and hidden away?

Anna jumped when she heard a snort and a mumble coming from her sister’s desk. Maybe it was wrong to be snooping, and she should wake her? Maybe?

Quietly, she tiptoed to where her sister was sleeping, absentmindedly wondering how she could sleep in such a cold environment, before stopping in front of the desk. “Elsa?” she asked, tapping a nail onto the wooden surface. “Elsa...”

Another snort, and the blond turned her head over to the other side, seeming to want to block out the light that was peeking through the gaps above her arms.

“Elsa,” Anna continued, grumbling under her breath now. “Please wake up... We had plaaaans.” Her voice was morphing into a whine as her hand rose to press against her sister's shoulder. “Come on.”

Elsa awoke with a gasp, sitting up and blinking rapidly up at the redhead. “What...” She rubbed a sleepy fist against her eye and glanced around the room. “What time is it?”

“Like... eleven?”

“At night?”

“No...”

Nodding knowingly, Elsa sighed and rubbed hands down her face. She had managed to fall asleep here again. Usually, she assumed that it was the better alternative to driving while exhausted and risk getting into an accident... But this was her third day here, and she was not showered and felt rather  _ grimy _ .

“How long've you been here?” she questioned, leaning back in her chair to stretch, her words slurring sleepily over her tongue. “Sorry I was sleeping...”

Anna sat in the chair across her desk with a smile, and waved her hands in front of her. “Oh, gosh, no problem! It's not like I'm in any rush to get anywhere.”

They sat in a content silence for a few moments, until Anna jumped up, an exclaimed “Oh!” escaping from her mouth, and bounced over towards where she had set her bags down. “I brought you a treat!” Threading her hands through the handles of the bag, she trotted back over to the desk and pulled the wrapped bakery box out of the bag, singing a little “Ta daaa!”

A smile and a laugh, and Elsa clapped her hands together. “Is it chocolate?”

“What else would it be, big sister?” Anna's grin had grown more mischievous, and she dug around in her purse to produce two forks. “Everyone knows chocolate is the best.”

Elsa licked her lips and started untying the strings of the box in order to reveal that delectable, smooth, creamy deliciousness that was hiding in the cardboard. When the lid popped open, both girls sighed in relief. What a  _ beautiful _ cake! They could hardly wait, and both grabbed a tight hold on their fork.

“You get the first bite,” Anna encouraged, popping her fork in between her lips as if to prevent herself from giving in to temptation and diving face first into the icing.

When her fork dug into the cake, the blonde couldn't help the ridiculous smile that stretched her cheeks at the feeling of the smooth pastry splitting under her utensil. It was fluffy and light and came apart so nicely as she poked at it and tore off the first piece.

And then it hit her tongue, and Anna could see pure ecstasy cross her features.

The redhead couldn't help but giggle at her. “That good, huh?”

“Oh gosh, Anna,” she hummed, covering her full mouth with her hand. “I think it's the best cake I've ever had from them.” Making a vague gesture with her hands, Elsa moved to take another bite. “Have some. You're gonna love it!”

The two girls sat in a happy silence, the only sound echoing in the studio was their forks hitting down onto the bottom of the cake, and the occasional giggle that bubbled up when they looked at one another. Anna liked this. It was quiet and not awkward. But she knew that wasn't going to last.

But she hoped it would have lasted longer than  _ that _ .

“So, Anna...” Elsa started, her fork slowing and her eyes glancing up shyly at her sister. “What... What did you do while I was gone?”

Oh god, it was just as awkward as she thought it would be...

Laughing, Anna waved off the question. “Oh gosh, please, my life was so boring! I didn't do anything besides school and shop, really.” She bit her lip and gestured towards her sister. “But you – wow! You moved to  _ Alaska _ and are a  _ famous artist _ and... your life is  _ way _ more worth talking about!”

“ That's pretty much all there is to it – but high school  _ must _ have been fun – you've  _ got to  _ have stor--”

Anna slapped her hand holding the fork down onto the table and interrupted her sister. “Tell me, Elsa! Why…” She swallowed, and turned her eyes down to the desk for a moment to give herself a break from Elsa’s confused stare. A smile. “Why Alaska?”

The blonde was more than a little taken aback, and blinked a few times to gather her thoughts. “O-oh… um…” She took a moment to think to herself, and laughed lightly. “I… I actually don’t know. I guess I wanted to be somewhere cold? But I didn’t want to leave the country.”

Her little sister watched with intrigue.

“You know winter has always been my favorite. I love snow and ice and… I figured being north was a goof choice.” She shrugged, and wished she had a more interesting reason for choosing this state. “Alaska was the furthest I could get without leaving the country and dealing with immigrating…”

Anna bounced forward on her seat, smiling and taking another bite of the cake. “Makes sense! Don’t need a philosophical reason for everything!”

A smile. “You’re right.” Elsa followed suit and took another few bites of the cake. “Kai and Gerda told me you traveled a lot?”

“Elsaaa,” Anna whined, pressing the fork against her lip. “No, no. Not about me!” Rolling her eyes, she laughed. “So Alaska is a pretty cool place! Have you…” Thinking… “Have you seen a bear? Bears are neat!”

“Anna--”

“Ooh! What about a moose?!”

“Anna, what’s--”

“Have you gone ice fishing?”

“Anna!”

At her sudden (and incredibly rare) exclamation, Anna clamped her lips shut. Her voice was quiet and meek. “... Sorry.”

Elsa rubbed her hands against her forehead and sighed. “It’s fine, Anna…” She dropped her hands back down to the desk. “It’s obvious that we’re not ready to talk about our time apart… So why not talk about what’s going on right now?”

Anna smiled and nodded. “Okay…” A bite of her lip. “So what got you interested in ice sculpting?”

Elsa dove into the story, about how even when she was little she loved playing with clay (which Anna said she vaguely remembered) and that of all the forms of art that she explored, sculpting was always her favorite, even if it wasn’t what she was best at, at the time. She explained that while she originally mostly used clay, sometimes wood or wax… there was something about  _ ice  _ that made her want to branch out and experiment. 

“ When I got here, after finding an apartment and a job at a coffee shop…” Elsa twisted her fingers together nervously, and sighed. “I finally saved up enough money to  _ buy _ this place. It was just a concrete shed…”

Anna stared on, eyes glossing over with amazement. “But I… actually put an ad out on craigslist for cheap labor help and… Kristoff was the one who answered. I lucked out with him.”

She continued on to explain how they had made the studio into what it is today. The only other outside help she needed to hire was an electrician, who wired up the large freezers. 

“Oh!” Anna interrupted again, smiling wide. “I was wondering… What’s in that locked black freezer?” 

Flushing, Elsa bit her lip and smiled. “Oh… It’s… my first sculpture that really… put my name out there.” 

She all but jumped out of her seat to run over to the black freezer, bouncing on her toes in front of it. “Can I see it? Please?”

“Oh… it’s so old… I don’t…” 

“Pleeeeease?”

They stared at one another for awhile, Anna’s face beaming and Elsa’s obviously nervous, until the blonde sighed and reached in her desk to grab out the keys. “Okay. Just… Remember that it’s old and please don’t think I’m weird or anything...”

Anna stepped out of the way, briefly wondering just exactly  _ why _ she would find Elsa at all weird… but immediately losing track of any of her thoughts when she saw the sculpture. Right before her eyes was an accurate, and  _ beautiful  _ sculpture of “...Me?”

“You…” Elsa leaned back up against the wall of the freezer and sighed. “You were all I could think about when I moved here… my baby sister, you know? I…” 

They both kept silent.

“I missed you a lot, Anna…”

She swallowed hard and smiled, fighting back the tears welling in her eyes. “Yeah, well…” It sure hadn’t felt like it. “Why do you still have it?”

Stepping back out of the freezer, Elsa gestured for Anna to follow her. “I… I wasn’t sure that I would get to see you again, Anna. I didn’t know if you would ever be part of my life again.” A misting of tears were rimming her bottom lash. “I couldn’t let it melt because it felt like…”

She wiped under her eyes. “It felt like letting you go… I wasn’t ready for that.”

Anna took a few strides forward to wrap warm arms around her older sister, and rubbed gently at her back. “Elsa… I’m here now. I am. We’re together again. And from now on, we’re not gonna be apart, okay?”

Elsa nodded against her shoulder, hugging her closer.

“Now…” Pulling back, Anna smiled. “Why don’t we head home. You can nap, shower, whatever it is you want to do.” She watched Elsa nod, her eyelids fluttering shut again. “Then we can talk more later. Sound good?”

“Shotgun,” Elsa mumbled, laughing to herself as they gathered up their things and walked out the door.

\--

When they got back to the apartment, Elsa almost immediately moved to the shower, then back to her room for a short nap, while Anna cleaned up around the apartment, and by the time she woke up and came back out, Anna was sitting on the couch with a photo album in hand.

“Come here, Elsa!”

The couch shifted under the blonde’s weight, and Anna moved to place the large book into her sister’s lap. 

“I kept all my pictures from high school. There’s homecoming in here… and prom… and graduation…” she paused, watching Elsa flip through the pages of the book. “And some other little things thrown in. Just… for me.”

Elsa laughed as she turned the pages, admiring how her sister grew up from a gawky fifteen year old to the beautiful twenty year old she was now. “Why didn’t you just put them in a digital album like most people do?”

Shrugging, she brushed off the question. “Feels more real, I guess?”

In truth, Anna had been planning to do one of two things with the photo album - either give it to Elsa when they finally met again, or leave it at her parent’s gravestones in hopes that they would be able to look through it in heaven. She couldn’t express how happy she was to be able to share it with her big sister.

But what Anna couldn’t see was the regret pumping through Elsa’s heart. Regret that she hadn’t been there to experience these things. To help Anna pick a dress. To help her get ready and take dorky pictures of her and “Your date?”

She waved her hands out in front of her. “Just a friend. His girlfriend, who was a close friend of mine, was away at college already… so we went together with her blessing,” Anna laughed, memories of awkwardly slow dancing with him coming back to her head. It really had been a rather awkward night…

“Speaking of dating,” Elsa had interjected, keeping her eyes down and her hands on the book pages. “Are you sure things with Hans are fine?”

Groaning, Anna dropped her head into her hands. “Are you kidding me? Yes… Things are fine, Elsa! I’m good at reading people… Hans is…” A slightly more dreamy quality wove it’s way into her voice. “He’s amazing… Really! So amazing…”

She nodded and bit her lip. “I know you think so, and I really do… really want to trust your judgment but…” Blue eyes finally turned towards Anna. “But Kristoff has known him since they were little. He has a serious problem with him… and…”

“ Look.” Anna took a deep breath and sighed. “I get it. Kristoff is your best friend and blah blah blah, but he doesn’t  _ know  _ Hans. He  _ doesn’t  _ know him.” She pulled out her phone to run a finger over text messages. “I asked him about Kristoff. He says they just went to school together, but they never talked. All Kristoff knows about him is his  _ reputation _ .”

Elsa turned her gaze away again, slumping her shoulders and nodding.

“ And I’m not going to judge someone based on their  _ reputation _ .” She crossed her arms, lowering her voice to an inaudible whisper. “God knows how many people judged me based on mine…”

Thankful that Elsa either didn’t hear her, or chose to ignore it, Anna continued. “Besides, Hans is twenty five. He’s probably  _ way _ different than he was in high school over seven years ago!”

Elsa shrugged. “You’re right. I don’t know Hans. Kristoff hasn’t known him for a long time… Just… please be careful? He really doesn’t have…” She placed her hand over her little sister’s. “He doesn’t have the best reputation. But as you said… It’s  _ just  _ his reputation.”

The silence was thick enough to cut with a butter knife.

But Anna was the best at breaking that kind of silence. She threw an arm around her sister and smiled. “Come on, let’s go get a late lunch. We can worry about this another day. Everything is fine right now!” 

Agreeing, Elsa stood with her and gathered up her belongings before heading out the door.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't normally put notes on my writing here, but this one is kind of necessary... I'm going to put the super early warning on this chapter. This fic is going to get heavy. I don't want people to get too attached and then be let down because they don't want to read that kind of stuff. It is going to be dealing with domestic violence and abusive relationships, in a relatively graphic nature. There will be some dubcon and physical violence.  
> That being said, I will be putting warnings on the chapters that contain anything of that nature, but they are all pretty crucial to the story. And THAT being said, nothing too bad will happen for a little while longer.
> 
> Anyway, with this warning, if you decide to continue with the fic, please enjoy~

Anna was sitting on the couch watching a movie when she heard a firm knock on the door. Was Elsa expecting someone that she forgot to mention again? At least this time she was  _dressed_ … When another knock rapped on the door, Anna sighed and murmured a quiet “I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Pulling open the door, she was met with a familiar grumpy blonde and an unknown, happily panting dog.

“Oh, it’s you,” he mumbled, stepping past her and making his way into the apartment. “Is Elsa here?”

“I mean, yeah, come on in.” Rolling her eyes, Anna closed the door behind him and crossed her arms over her chest. “No, she’s not. She’s at the studio all day.”

Kristoff sighed, kicked his shoes off by the door, took the leash off of his dog, and moved into the kitchen to grab a pen and post-it note. “Well I got a package for her, so I guess I’ll just…” He turned around to find Anna sitting on the floor with his dog, rubbing his belly and giggling like crazy.

A light pink dusted his cheeks, and he turned away from the cute little redhead to scribble his note quickly before sticking it on top of the package. He took a moment to gather himself, taking deep breaths and ignoring her presence, until she spoke up.

“What’s his name?”

Kristoff turned on his heel to face her, and sat backwards into the dining chair, scratching the legs against the wood floor. “Sven. And apparently he likes you.”

The pup’s tongue was hanging out of his mouth as he writhed around on the floor happily, occasionally licking at Anna’s hands, and nuzzling his nose against her knee. He sure did love belly rubs.

Anna continued scratching at his chest and tummy, laughing along with his panting, and Kristoff couldn’t help but smile at them.

There were no words spoken between them, just the occasional baby talk from Anna towards Sven, and the grumbled “don’t talk to him like that” from Kristoff, earning a sharp glare from the girl. Kristoff let about fifteen minutes pass (in which he messed around on his phone), before he stood and shrugged, rolling his shoulders.

“So…” He stepped towards her and blushed again when her warm eyes landed on his. “I should probably go… Sven likes long walks and the days are getting shorter…” Grabbing the leash off of the table, Kristoff latched it into the dog’s harness as soon as he stood on all fours, eager and ready to go, and moved towards the door.

Anna leapt upwards off the ground and touched his arm gently before jerking her hand away. “Ah…”

He stared at her expectantly.

“Can… Can I come with you?”

There was another tense silence between them as he thought and she worried her bottom lip. The last time they had been alone together, things had gotten… carried away. And the last time they talked, he had left, slammed the door, and was obviously angry. Would them being alone lead to another problematic situation?

Sighing, Kristoff waved his hand and nodded. “Sure. Come on.”

Anna smiled and ran to grab a sweater and shoes before joining up with him at the doorway again, closing and locking it behind them.

\--

Kristoff wasn’t kidding when he said that Sven liked long walks. They had already gone two miles and weren’t showing signs of stopping any time soon. Anna would have been perfectly fine with this… if he hadn’t been ignoring her. Literally. He hadn’t said a word in two miles. He wouldn’t even look at her. And when she  _tried_ to talk...

“So are we going anywhere in particular?”

… he would speed up his pace and make her jog to catch up. Finally, she had enough.

Darting forward to grab his arm and pull him to a stop, Anna stomped her foot down against the pavement. “Why on  _earth_  did you agree to me coming along if you were just going to  _ignore_ me the whole time?”

He shrugged.

“Stop just  _shrugging_!”

A sigh. “I’m sorry.” Kristoff finally met her gaze, offering her a small and crooked grin. “I’m just not sure…”

Not sure of what? What their relationship was? How to act around her? How not to kiss her? Kristoff couldn’t deny that he felt a tension around her. A desire to touch her again like the last time they were alone. The feeling that boiled in his stomach when she touched his hands and was laying across his lap.

It had felt normal and nice and everything he knew he  _shouldn’t_  be feeling about his best friend’s little sister… who also happened to be  _Hans Westergard’s_ girlfriend-ish… thing.

She was staring at him. He blushed.

“Anyway… what do you wanna talk about?”

Biting her lip, Anna shrugged. “I don’t know, um…” She tapped her finger against her chin before bouncing up with an “oh!” and adjusting so she was walking backwards in front of him. “Were you born here?”

“Yep.”

A pout. “Okay… So you’re going to be difficult, huh?”

He smirked at her and shrugged again. “Only if you give me yes or no questions.”

“All right, fine,” she laughed, smiling brightly at him. “What’s your job?”

He groaned, rolling his shoulders as Sven started trotting ahead of them. “I’m a laborer for a local construction company.” He laughed at Anna’s confused stare, and found it in himself to be less difficult. “Basically I work for them when they need me - lately it’s most days, so the extra cash has been nice.”

Anna gave him a nod, as if she understood, and he decided to give her even more information. “Sometimes I go work on my parent’s reindeer farm. That’s what I grew up doing. And then, you know, I get ice for Elsa.”

“Oh yeah!” The redhead bounced beside him again, and he was amused by her enthusiasm. “If you have those other two jobs, why do you get ice for Elsa? What got you started doing that?”

“It’s just something I’ve been doing for a long time…” Kristoff felt his heart growing heavier in his chest, and he tried his best to ignore it. He really wasn’t sure that he wanted to reveal quite  _that_ much to this girl… “Then I met Elsa on craigslist so… We worked out a deal. And I bring her stuff weekly.”

Anna smiled, remembering that her sister had said the same thing. But… “It seems like such a random hobby though… like… what got you interested in cutting ice?”

“Harvesting,” he corrected, rolling his neck down to face her, a small smile playing at his lips. “When I was little,” Kristoff started, his eyes down and nervous. “My dad’s favorite thing to do was go harvest glaciers. He made a small business out of it, sold it to local ice companies… When I turned six, he started taking me along.”

Anna nodded and smiled, looking up at the tall blond looming over her. “So… Do you guys still go out together to do it?”

His face dropped and she felt a new sort of tension between them.

“Nah…”

She waited to see if he’d continue.

He didn’t.

Unable to help her curiosity, she had to ask. “Did… did something happen?”

Kristoff was silent, his jaw clenched and tension forming in his back. “He… He, um…” He swallowed the large lump in his throat. “When I was about eight, he uh…”

Anna stopped walking and turned to face him. She knew this expression far too well - she had spent a few years with that hard swallow and inability to get words out. “You don’t have to tell me,” she started, wrapping her arms around his waist, and pressing her cheek against his chest. “I’m sorry.”

As soon as she was touching him, she wondered if this was okay. Was this past the boundaries of  _friends_? Past what was okay with Kristoff and  _his_ friends? When a tense hesitation rose in his shoulders, and he was holding his hands out to his sides to avoid touching her, Anna was sure that she had made a mistake.

But he gave in and draped his arms around her, smiling against the top of her head, and Anna breathed a sigh of relief.

For Kristoff, there was no expressing how thankful he was that she understood the situation without him needing to say anything. Her fingers curled into his shirt, and he felt that same shiver of warmth that he had felt the last time she touched him.

_Let go, Kristoff. Let go of her. Don’t do this to yourself. You can’t have her. You shouldn’t even try._

Pulling away, he smiled warmly down at her. “When I got old enough,” he almost whispered, letting go of her completely, “I started harvesting on my own. Keeps me close to him, you know?”

Anna nodded, her eyes soft as she took her hands away from his hips. Before she had a chance to reply, Sven let out a loud bark and took off down the road, tearing his leash from Kristoff’s hand.

They both stood in shock for a moment, turned to face one another, and then darted down the sidewalk behind the pup, calling after him.

\--

After about five minutes of chasing him, Kristoff had an idea of where he was running to, and pulled Anna to a slower pace.

“But…”

“It’s fine,” he mumbled, taking in a deep breath. “He’s going to the dog park. We’ll catch up eventually.”

Anna couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s a pretty well behaved dog, isn’t he? I was honestly shocked that he ran off.”

“Obviously,” Kristoff grumbled, “we were not moving fast enough for him.” A shrug and a laugh, before he continued. “But yeah, he’s mostly well behaved. I couldn’t believe what a sweet pup he is, all things considered.”

Confusion fell across her features. “What? What things considered?”

The blond was laughing hysterically. “You know, you’re getting loads of personal information out of me  _scary_ fast, Red.”

Anna tossed him a smug glance. “Guess I’m just someone you feel like you can trust.”

He turned to give her a soft smile. “Yeah, guess so.”

They held one another's gaze for a moment too long, before Anna was forced to shake her head and turn her eyes forward. “So… What happened to Sven?”

“Oh yeah, so…” He was doing his best to bite his blush back down. There was something about the way she looked at him that make his stomach flip. In a good way? But it wasn’t like he could  _act_  on it. Sure they had…  _done_  things… but she had a boyfriend type thing now, didn’t she? Besides, if she wanted to do anything,  _she_ could be the one to initiate it.

He didn’t need to get tangled up in  _her_.

Knowing his life would be so much easier without getting involved with his best friends little sister was  _definitely_ enough to calm his mind.

Definitely…

“A few years back, I think it’s been six, now?” Kristoff thought for a minute, nodding. “Yeah, six. He was just a little puppy. I was walking down the road and I heard whimpering.” He noted how upset she looked and was hesitant to keep going. “Uh, I guess his owners decided they didn’t want him, for whatever reason… He was sitting in an alleyway taped into a box with just some holes cut into it.”

Anna’s hands were covering her mouth as she gasped, tears brimming her bottom lash line. “Who would do that to a puppy?”

Kristoff shook his head, obvious distress threading through his brows. “I… I don’t know. If I ever find them, I’m definitely going to punch them. Sven’s just… the absolute best and sweetest dog ever.” He sighed. “He wasn’t even scared when I got him out of the box. He was just jumping all over me, nuzzling his nose into my neck. I fell in love with him the minute I found him.”

“I bet he felt the same about you.”

“If he did it was probably just because I saved him. People and animals don’t exactly like me.” He was laughing, but Anna could see a flicker of pain in his brown eyes, gone in an instant.

She grabbed his hand and offered him a smile. “I like you.”

Freezing, Kristoff did his best to subtly roll the tension out of his shoulders, and kept his gaze stoic and facing forward, pulling his hand from hers with a slight jerk. “Yeah, well… I think you kind of have to.”

Anna felt that like a jab in the gut. Did he think she was faking a friendship? Did he not trust her? Did she cross a line by touching him again? Were they not really as comfortable as she had thought?

He had opened up to her, just a little bit, for a moment there. Maybe she had read too deeply into it… She had done that before, in the past. Many times. Would it really be all that surprising if she had done it again?

Deep down she had hoped that it was just because of stress of Sven running off.

An awkward silence fell between the two, Anna’s gaze falling down to the pavement before them, Kristoff’s staying hard out in front of them. The silence lasted until they arrived at the park, another ten minutes down the road, and he began calling out for Sven.

Within about thirty seconds, the mutt came bounding towards them, jumping up onto Kristoff’s shoulders and licking enthusiastically at his face. The blond was laughing hysterically along with his dog.

“All right, all right, I’m here.” He pushed him back as he knelt down, and scratched vigorously under Sven’s chin. “Don’t run off like that, bud. You scared me.”

Watching with adoration, Anna thought she might be starting to understand Kristoff just…just a  _little_ better. Underneath his whole grumpy exterior, he was soft. Maybe he had been hurt in the past. Maybe he felt… afraid to show his true colors?

But if how he acted towards Sven was any indication of how he truly  _was_ , she felt he would be worth sticking around to get to know. Anyone who loves their dog as much as Kristoff loved Sven couldn’t possibly be a bad person.

Sven made small little whimpering noises, and Kristoff nodded knowingly. “I got it buddy, I know. We stopped during your walk and you don’t like when I do that unless it’s on your terms.”

Grabbing a tight hold on his leash, Kristoff stood back up next to Anna, and turned to her with the smallest hint of a smile. “Ready to head back?”

She smiled, nodding and took a step towards him, when her phone rang.

“Uh… hang on, I’m sorry.”

When she pulled her phone from her pocket, Anna smiled for a brief moment before letting her eyes dart over to Kristoff, then back down to her phone. “I, um… is it okay if I take this? It’s…”

His face stayed stoic, but he nodded, waved her on, and then turned his eyes down, doing his best to ignore the girl on the phone.

“Hey,” she whispered, cupping her hand over the mouthpiece in order to muffle the conversation further. “Can I call you back la--” He started speaking again, cutting her off and continuing onward, her nodding and biting at her lip.

Kristoff only caught part of the conversation, but he could  _hear_  Hans’ condescending voice permeating through the back of her phone. If he was being honest, it was completely unsurprising that he wasn’t a quiet man, but he hoped that Hans had more decency than to  _speak over her_.

Anna was mumbling little “uh huh”s and “yeah”s, trying her best to get off the phone, and offering little apologetic glances towards him… and Kristoff couldn’t quite figure out why he was so  _angry_. She was  _dating_  Hans. Of course she wouldn’t just hang up on him. Of  _course_ she would put up with his rambling. She was completely infatuated with him.

“Yeah, Hans… Please I have to --”

Kristoff crossed his arms over his chest. It’s not like she was interested in  _him_  at all. She had kissed him, but that was before Hans took her out. She had rested on his lap, and held his hand, and made him feel stupidly  _warm_ … but she didn’t  _like_  him. She didn’t want to  _date_ him…

Why was he even thinking about this?

Smiling and blushing, Anna covered her mouth with her hand again, as if it would block the next few words from the blond standing next to her. “Yes that sounds great. Yeah, see you then.”

Dropping his hands to his side, he balled them into fists and turned towards the entrance.

By the time Anna had hung up the phone, Kristoff had started to walk away, and she had to jog slightly to catch up. “Hey!” She hooked herself onto his arm and frowned up towards him. “What was that for?”

He shrugged, keeping his gaze forward. “Nothing. Sorry. I thought you were right behind me.”

“Look…” Anna turned her gaze down, upset that he only glanced at her for a brief moment before turning away. “I know you hate him, but if you just took a time to got to know him --”

“I do know him.” Kristoff took a moment and a deep breath, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Do what you want, Anna. I’m just telling you that he’s not a good person.”

Her jaw tightened and her stare hardened, and she felt like she was close to tears. Weren’t they having… an okay day? Why did one phone call from someone she was seeing ruin it?

It didn’t take long for Kristoff to notice that this was not the time or place, and that Anna was growing increasingly visibly upset. “Come on,” he sighed, placing a hand on her back, and gently leading her towards the entrance of the park. “Let’s head home.”

\--

The walk back was long and quiet, and Anna wished more than anything she knew how to get herself home so she could part ways with this increasingly awkward situation. She could still feel the warmth of his large hand spanning across her mid back, and she wanted so badly to shake it off of her skin. It was bad enough that her stomach felt like it was almost in constant knots around him ever since he kissed her, ever since he… ran away.

It was obvious to her that he didn’t want anything to do with her. Even letting her come along on the walk felt forced and obligatory. And as quickly as they had relaxed around one another, things grew silent and tense again. She  _hated_ it.

Anna just wanted to be his friend. That was all she wanted. But how Kristoff felt about her seemed to flip between kind of liking her to loathing even being around her. Why was he making this so damn difficult?

“Hey…”

Keeping her eyes downcast, but feeling his gaze burning into the side of her face, Anna pulled her sweater tighter around her form, and tucked her hands under the opposing arm. “Did I do something?”

“What?”

“I…” She pulled at the already tearing skin of her bottom lip and dared to meet his gaze for just a fleeting moment. “You seem like you’re mad at me. Did I do something wrong?”

“Ah…” Kristoff rubbed anxiously at the back of his neck. “No… I’m not mad…”

Anna didn’t believe him, and she felt a new something clogging up her throat. She just wanted to get home, to go back to her room and hide under her covers. She really couldn’t even make one friend? She couldn’t manage to make  _one_ person not hate her?

How bad of a friend was she?

“Can you tell me how to get home from here?”

“Wait, what?” Kristoff’s whole head whipped around to face her, confusion tugging at his face.

“I want to go home.” Anna willed herself to stay calm, but felt that it probably wouldn’t last for very long.

He turned to face her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m taking you home, that’s where we’re going.” Trying his best to catch her gaze, Kristoff gave her a gentle squeeze before slipping his hand down to rest on her upper arm.

Why did he have to be so  _warm_? “I think I want to walk alone…”

Kristoff wasn’t going to fight her. Something felt different in the air between them, and he wasn’t really equipped to handle this. “All right…” he crooned, letting go of her arm. It was simple enough, just a couple turns. He directed her down the easiest path, just making two turns to get onto her road. He was fairly confident that she would find the apartment on the road. “Just let me know when you get home, okay?”

“Yeah…” Anna kept her stare down, and turned away, offering him a small wave. “‘Bye.”

“See you…”

Kristoff watched her head down the road and turn at his first direction, and frowned to himself. Feeling the nudge of Sven’s muzzle under his hand, Kristoff turned his attention down to the mutt. “What’s her deal?”

Glancing around quickly to make sure no one could hear him, he knelt down beside Sven, and lowered his voice into a slightly goofy, deeper tone. “ _Well you did get kind of weird and quiet after she talked to Hans._ ”

Kristoff glared at the pup, who had his head tilted to the side, almost giving off a  _you know I’m right_ expression.

“Well I hate him!” Kristoff ran a hand down his face. “What am I supposed to do?”

Sven tilted his head the other way, flopped his tongue out of his mouth, and barked.

Sighing and dropping his head, Kristoff offered a small nod to his pup. “You’re right, bud. You’re always right.”

If he wanted any chance of even being  _friends_  with Anna, he had to offer her support. Even if he didn’t necessarily  _agree_ with the whole situation…

Glancing once more down the road where she had walked, he groaned and got up, deciding it was still best to leave her alone for a little while.

\--

It had taken a bit longer than she had expected to get home (though the one wrong turn probably contributed a large chunk of time to that), but the minute she did, Anna kicked her shoes off and pulled out her phone.

_[ I’m home. ]_

_[ Good. Glad you made it safe. ]_

Anna scoffed, and fell backwards onto the couch, leaning her head against the back of it. She didn’t expect her phone to vibrate again.

_[ I’m sorry about today. ]_

_[ For what? ]_

_[ For getting weird. Look… We’re kind of friends, right? ]_

_[ … I guess. ]_

_[ Then I’ll do my best to bite my tongue, if you’re happy. ]_

She felt like a weight in her chest had lightened significantly.

_[ … Thank you. ]_

_[ Not a problem, Red. ]_


	10. Chapter 9

Over the next week, Kristoff had come over a few more times, or invited Anna along on his daily walks with Sven, and they had spent a little more time getting to know one another. Anna learned that he had named Sven after an old reindeer he had befriended when he was little on the farm, and Kristoff had learned that Anna had a fluffy white cat named Olaf when she was young.

Sure, the knowledge was relatively shallow, but it was  _something_ , and Anna, honestly, was cherishing the time spent with him. She had always wanted a  _real_ friend - someone who she could be  _herself_  with, and who would be content to just sit around in pajamas, watch television, and just veg out with her. Kristoff might just  _be_ that friend.

That’s why she got so upset when he came over, and started acting  _weird_.

“You look nice…”

Anna jumped at the voice in her doorway, and snapped her head around to look at the tall form leaning up against the frame. “Oh,” she breathed, relief rolling up her back, a smile stretching at her cheeks. “You scared me…”

“Sorry…” his voice was a low rumble, and he kept his gaze relatively downcast. “Why are you so dressed up?”

Swallowing hard, Anna bit at her lower lip. “I, um…” She couldn’t stop shifting nervously in place. “I have a date with Hans tonight… I thought I mentioned that?”

Kristoff let out a small laugh and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Right… Guess I forgot.”

Silence fell heavy over them for a few moments, before Kristoff turned on his toe and walked out of her room, heading back towards the living room to sit with Elsa. Anna was tempted to go follow him, but her phone started vibrating on her nightstand. Groaning, she threw together her bag, pulled on shoes, and darted out to the living room.

“Okay, I’ll be back by eleven, like I promised.”

Elsa smiled up at Anna, who was obviously distressed by Kristoff’s irate and hunched over form, and nudged her elbow into her friend’s side. “Have fun, Anna.”

She waved hesitantly, saying goodbye to both of them, and pouting as she exited after Kristoff continued to just offer her short grunts.

As soon as the door shut, Elsa hit Kristoff in the shoulder. “What is your problem?”

“Hey!” He rubbed at his arm and kept his eyes locked on the rug. “Nothing. I don’t have a problem.”

Crossing her arms across her chest, she gave him a more than knowing look. “Kristoff, you act like I don’t know you at  _all_.”

He couldn’t help the pout that puckered at his lips. “I just…” Kristoff trailed off, squeezing his hands together in his lap. “I hate that guy. I don’t think he’s changed.”

Concern washed over Elsa’s face, teeth catching her bottom lip with worry.

\----

“So,” Anna giggled, her arm linked with that of her suitor’s. “You said you had a surprise for me tonight?”

Smiling, Hans reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet, and slipped out a thin plastic card. “Ah yes.” He held it out between two fingers, waiting for Anna to take it from him. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s any harm in you having a glass of wine or two at dinner with me…”

Personally, he felt the relatively large year difference was strange, and felt the judgemental eyes of strangers on him when she was unable to order a drink. She was barely past twenty, and he was close to twenty-seven. And he didn’t like people  _judging_ him.

She was hesitant, examining the ID card between her hands, and shrugged. “I don’t know… I --”

“Oh, Anna,” he murmured, running a hand down her cheek delicately. “It’ll be  _fine_.” As long as she didn’t  _act_ like a child with a fake ID.

When he started moving again, Anna just held tightly on his arm, and continued to keep her eyes locked forward. It wasn’t like she hadn’t done this before, but something felt… off. Why did he have that made for her? She hadn’t made any indication of  _wanting_ it…

“Why?”

Hans stopped, turning his head down to face her. “Why what?”

Suddenly, she felt nervous. His gaze made her stomach flip, in a not-so-good way, and she felt uneasy. “Why did you have a fake ID made for me?”

He rolled his eyes, a laugh bubbling up from his chest. “Well, why not?” He pressed a kiss to her slightly parted and confused lips, catching her jaw between his thumb and forefinger. “I figured it might be weird for you that I’m having a drink, while you  _can’t_.”

“O… Okay…”

They walked to the restaurant in silence, his thumb running carefully over the knuckles of her hand that was laced through his arm.

_While you_ _**can’t** _ _._

Was he bothered by the age difference?

Did he not want people  _knowing_ how young she was?

\----

They were seated quickly, and things had started off well. The whole dream date she had thought up in her mind since she was little. Hans had held out her chair for her, ordered for her (correctly guessing what she wanted, no less!), held her hand delicately, running his other hand softly over her knee, which was barely exposed under the hem of her dress…

And he paid all of his attention to her.

Well…  _mostly_.

Sometimes something else caught his eye, and Anna would touch his arm, or lean in a little closer to catch his attention again. “So I think I’ve made a new friend.”

“Oh?” Hans asked, turning in to face her. “That’s wonderful. What is she like?”

Biting her lip, Anna hesitated. She.  _She_. Should she not confess that her new friend was male? Would that upset Hans? This was new to her, and she really wanted to do everything in she could to keep their relationship on the right track. “Oh… they’re um… Really wonderful. A good friend of my sister’s who I guess I kind of just clicked with.”

Hans nodded, forcing a smile to stretch on his lips. It was obvious to him that her use of  _they_ meant… “I’m sorry, your friend is a male, isn’t he?”

A smile and a laugh. “Y-yeah… is that okay?”

He placed a hand over hers, and left a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Of course it is, Anna! Did you think I would try to police your friends?” Guilt was a helpful tool, too, he supposed.

“Oh gosh,” she was growing a little more frantic, her hands waving in front of her. “No, no! I just… wasn’t sure if you’d be  _comfortable_  with the idea of me only having one friend so far, and him being… well, a  _him_.”

“Anna…” His hand drifted up her thigh, making her jump and blush a deep red. “I  _trust_ you.”

A softer smile spread across her lips, and he knew it so well. The smile that meant she trusted him, too. The smile that meant he had her just within his reach. The smile, he decided, that meant maybe this wouldn’t be the  _worst_ thing he would have to settle for.

\----

After settling down with a drink, Elsa turned her attention back to her best friend. “So… When you say he hasn’t  _changed_ … What was he like, when you knew him?”

Kristoff rolled his shoulders and took a long swig of his beer. “A manipulative asshole, basically.” Picking anxiously at the paper label wrapped around the bottle, he continued. “I don’t know if it was a  _game_  to him or  _what_ , but he would lure girls in to dating him, and a few months later, they would be… different.”

Elsa bit at her lip, and tapped at her glass. “What do you mean, different?”

“I think he abused them, honestly. Maybe not  _physically_ but...” Kristoff ran his fingers through his hair, and sighed. “A couple years ago, I found one of them outside his apartment… I was walking Sven and she was on the curb, crying… I sat with her and she just seemed… broken? I don’t know.”

He shook his head violently, as if willing the memory away. “Just keep an eye on her, okay? I don’t… I don’t trust him.”

Placing a comforting hand against his shoulder, Elsa nodded. “I will. I still think Anna will know to get away if things got bad… Maybe he  _has_ changed...”

“Maybe.”

\----

As the night went on, Anna still found herself  _fighting_ for his attention. Even when he was having a conversation with her, his eyes seemed to drift. He would look at the clock, at the bar, cast his eyes down at his plate…

She had honestly intended on only having one drink, that was it. Just some wine with dinner. Maybe a second glass, if it was  _that_ good…

But Anna had hit four glasses by the time dinner was on their table and Hans had had  _another_ woman order a drink for him, having it sent to the table, and laughing with her friends when he gave them a tilt of his glass and a wink.

 _Kristoff_  wouldn’t do that, she thought to herself as she sipped at her glass. When they were together, Kristoff  _only_  paid attention to her. He didn’t even  _notice_ the glances he got from other women walking past.

Anna clenched her fist tightly on the table, tossed back the rest of her drink, and willed herself to  _stop_   _thinking about him because it’s not like they were dating and he definitely wasn’t interested in her and she wasn’t interested in him and she definitely was dating H--_

“Anna, I think you should slow down.”

“Excuse me?” she asked, tapping her nails against the wine glass. She was definitely a lightweight, and she felt like she was swimming under water.

“I said I think you should  _slow down_.” His voice was stern, and his hand on her arm was a little rougher than normal.

“Hey…” She couldn’t take her eyes off of his hand holding her forearm. “That… hurts…” Voice in a low whisper, Anna grasped at his hand with her free one, trying to loosen the grip his large fingers had on her skin. “Why’re you doing that?”

Hans sighed, and hastily let go of her arm. “I’m sorry, Anna. I think we should go…” Pity, really. He had hoped she would be able to  _control_ herself. At least he had learned for next time...

“No,” she slumped down in her seat, raising her arm up to call over the waiter. “I’m  _still_ eating and I want another drin--”

In one swift motion, Hans had her wrist caught in his palm, had lowered it to the table and sat beside her, his mouth close to her ear. “Anna, please  _behave_ ,” he hissed, his voice low and demanding. “You don’t need any more to drink.” He had  _tried_ to be pleasant...

A whimper came from her parted lips as she twisted her arm in his ever tightening grip, begging for him to let go of her. “Let go…”

“Stop acting like a child.” He had tried to be  _kind_...

Anna didn’t know if it was the alcohol or something else, but all of the sudden she felt a large lump forming in her chest. She  _wasn’t_  a child. She wasn’t a  _child_. But he was managing to make her feel so small - so much  _like_ one.

“I’m not…”

Hans sighed and loosened his grasp on her wrist. “Why are you doing this, Anna? Please just come with me.” He had tried to  _reason_ with her…

Anna felt afraid. “No…”

Standing beside the table, Hans offered his hand. “Anna, please come with me.” Just once more, he’d try...

She turned back to her food, and started cutting into the meal before her.

Hans sighed, and sat back down at the table. She was a spirited one, that was for sure. He’d be settling, yes, but he thought again that maybe he should have picked a someone else… No, no. Ultimately, she was an easy target… Doe eyed and desperate for a relationship…  

“Anna…” He was growing frustrated as she continued to ignore him, and Hans was just about ready to leave her there. She could find her own way home, for all he cared.

His phone began to vibrate in his pocket. A heavy sigh passed between his lips as he answered it, turning away from Anna as he spoke, but enjoying the way she watched him curiously. The call had been from a subordinate, about a problem that needed fixing, but could wait if he needed it to.

It was an excuse to leave, at least.

He would be fine to see her again when she calmed down. She was tolerable on a normal day.

“I’ll be right there,” he finished, hanging up the phone and turning back to the redhead. “I’m so sorry, Anna.” He ran his hand across her cheek. “I have to go… for work. It’s urgent.”

She pouted again.

“Do you want to come with me, or finish eating?”

Her gaze was barely on him as she placed another forkful of food in her mouth.

She was a  _child_. He was almost starting to regret picking her.

After leaning over to place a kiss on her forehead, Hans waved over a waiter and handed him plenty of cash. “All right, Anna… I’ll send a car. He’ll be here soon and you can leave whenever you are ready.”

He had chosen a  _child_. But he had to follow through.

He didn’t have  _time_ to court someone else... Not that women in this city were willing to do  _more_  than just sleep with him.

Blue eyes rolled up to look at him as he said farewell, and he sighed, turning away from the table with a small shake of his head.

After the disaster that was this night, He would have to do  _something_ to get her back under his thumb. A little planning was necessary, but he had a feeling she would be slightly less angry in the morning.

\----

By the time Kristoff had gotten back home, Sven was eagerly awaiting his arrival to let him out into the backyard. He did so quickly, patting the mutt’s head and leaving the door open to sit down in the kitchen.

At least Elsa was… being  _cautious_ now. But she was obviously still open to leaving things up to chance…

Kristoff jumped when his phone rang, whole body tensing when he saw Anna’s name lighting up the screen.

_Shit._

\----

Anna had decided to sit at the bar and have a couple… okay, four more drinks, while waiting for the alleged  _car_ to show up.. Drinking helped people forget things, right? Well that’s what they said, anyway. But really, all she was feeling was sleepy and sad and alone.

Hans had  _really_ left her at this restaurant, hadn’t he? Left her to wait for some stranger to pick her up?

Glancing at her watch, barely making out the numbers, she realized that she barely had fifteen minutes before she said she’d be back home… and that it had been about two hours since Hans left her. With a muttered curse and some amount of money tossed onto the bar, Anna hobbled as best she could out towards the entrance.

The alcohol hit her in a totally new way when she stood up. Her head was swimming, eyes struggling to focus, and her legs felt like jelly under her body. Was the door this far away when she came in? No way… The restaurant must’ve stretched… It was going to take  _forever_ for her to get outside...

But suddenly she was sitting on the curb past the valet stand, digging through her purse for her phone. She had to call  _someone_. She thought she had heard someone ask her if she needed a cab, but she waved them off… Anna wasn’t entirely sure that she could remember Elsa’s address in her current state.

Who to call… She really only had three options - Hans, Elsa, or... Kristoff…

It didn’t even need a second thought.

“Hello?” His voice was gruff and frustrated.

“H-hi…” Anna felt tears welling up in her throat. “C-can… can you…”

“Anna? Are you okay?”

She hiccupped. “No…”

“Where are you?”

She struggled to read the sign. “Simon’s Seafront or something… I d-dunno...”

“... I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, okay?”

Sniffling and wiping under her eyes, Anna nodded to herself. “Okay…”

“Don’t move.”

“I won’t…”

\----

He knew Hans hadn’t changed.

\----

Anna had her head buried in between her knees when she heard the rumble and squeal of Kristoff’s old truck pull up in front of the restaurant, and kept her head down when she heard the engine die. She knew she probably looked like a hot mess, and pressed her head further down between her knees when he sat beside her.

His hand pressed against her back, rubbing in soft circles. “What happened?”

Leaning into him, Anna rested her head against his shoulder, sighing in relief when he pressed his cheek against the top of her hair, hand still moving over the silky fabric of her dress. She shook her head when he asked again what had happened.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

She lifted her head and leaned more weight against him. “Mhmmm…”

Standing, Kristoff offered her a hand and a smile, and helped her to her feet, steadying her as she wobbled on gelatin legs.

“Are you drunk?”

Anna wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded, her hair bouncing around her ears. “A little…”

With a groan, Kristoff slipped one hand behind her back, and the under other her knees, before hoisting her up and off the ground. “All right, Princess… Into the truck we go…”

A tiny giggle bubbled up out of her chest into the crook of his neck, and she snuggled into his grasp. It was funny, how much better she felt once he was here. It was probably just because of her state of inebriation, and because of Hans  _leaving_  her… But she felt warm and happy and  _safe_ in his embrace.

When he moved to put her into the seat, she held fast onto his neck.

“Anna… you have to let go…”

“Okay…” She didn’t.

“Anna…” Kristoff reached up behind his head to grab her wrists and gently tug her off of him. He placed her hands into her lap and patted them before walking around the front of the truck and climbing into the drivers seat. This girl was certainly a handful…

After a minute of driving, he glanced over to Anna, who had taken her hair down and was tugging absentmindedly on her curls. “So…”

He blushed when she looked at him, with alcohol-pink cheeks and half-lidded eyes.

“Do you wanna tell me what happened?”

Anna kept playing with her curls, biting her lip and staring at him for a minute before she spoke. “I think I made him mad…”

Kristoff could feel irritation boiling in his stomach. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… he gave me an ID and I…” Anna tucked her hands under her arms. “I guess I acted childish and he said I could go home with him or he would call me a car but that was like two hours ago and no car came but I don’t know if I just missed it or if he forgot to call or what but I… Yeah...”

His fingers were grasping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. “What is his  _problem_?”

Her hand landed on his thigh and Kristoff found himself relaxing under her touch. “N-no… No it was mine… My fault…” Anna slid herself across the cab, and pressed her head against his shoulder, and ran her fingers up his forearm. “I basically told him to go…”

She was snoring lightly against his arm before he had a chance to reply.

By the time they got back to the apartment, Anna was fully passed out, only waking once he had to shift her in order to unlock the door. She only pressed herself further into his arms, mumbling nonsense against his neck as they made their way back to her bedroom.

“All right, Anna… Can you change by yourself?” She shook her head into the crook of his neck and he sighed. “I don’t know if you want me to  _change_ you…”

With gentle hands, Kristoff lowered her feet down to the floor and set her upright in front of him. He couldn’t help himself… He ran his fingers over her hair, brushing it back off of her face, smiling when she finally lifted her blue eyes to meet his. He shivered when her dainty fingers found their way into the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Hey Kris…”

“Yeah?”

“You…” Her voice was a whisper, slightly slurred under her breath. “You wouldn’t leave me at a restaurant… would you?”

“No…”

Nodding, she pulled him closer. “I didn’t think so…”

Kristoff felt his breath hitching in his chest, felt his hands slowly moving to rest on her hips. Everything was wrong with this. She was drunk. He wasn’t who she wanted…

“Anna…”

She kissed him, then, all soft lips and warm breath and he wanted to… Oh, he  _wanted_  to more than anything else right now but all he could taste was  _alcohol_ and this wasn’t  _right_.

Kristoff placed firm hands on her shoulder and pushed her away, groaning to himself when she looked at him with those pure, trusting, lustful eyes, confusion flickering dully in them.

“Come on, Princess. Bed time.”

He was careful as he lifted her, pulled the covers back and laid her down. His hands worked softly as he unbuckled her heels and placed them beside the nightstand. He even made an effort to fluff the pillow that was under her head before pulling the covers up over her.

“Good night, Anna.”

“Wait…” Her voice was tired, obviously fighting sleep as she reached blindly for his collar. “Can you stay here tonight?”

Kristoff blushed, resting his hand on top of hers. “Like, out on the couch?”

“No…” Sliding closer to the edge of the bed, Anna patted at the empty space on her mattress. “Here… Please…”

He was too tired to fight, honestly, and kicked off his shoes with a sigh. He crawled under the covers, tensing when he felt her hands reach out for him, but relaxing as she pressed the rest of her body up against his. As her nose nuzzled into the crook of his neck and her breath fell hot over his throat, Kristoff felt completely at  _home_. He could smell the sweet florals of her soaps, and found his arms coming tightly, almost protectively, around her. Blushing, he pressed a soft kiss against her forehead.

“Night night,” she sighed, breath hot against his throat, causing another shiver to shoot down his spine. “Thank you…”

“Anytime…”

Kristoff waited for her soft snores to start before letting himself drift off.


	11. Chapter 10

Elsa had already been awake for an hour and was glancing outside to check the weather when she noticed Kristoff’s truck parked right outside of the apartment. That was… weird…

“Hey, Anna?” she called, turning away from the window and walking quietly towards the back of the apartment to see if her little sister was awake yet. “Anna?” She knocked softly on the wooden door, before cracking it open slightly.

“Ann-- Oh…”

Unable to stop the highly amused grin from spreading across her cheeks at the sight in front of her, Elsa crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door frame.

Not only were her best friend and little sister sleeping in the  _same_  bed… they were  _completely_  tangled up in one another. Anna, with her mouth hanging open, had her nose pressed up against his throat, her arms draped across his shoulders, and her legs woven through his, feet sticking out from under the sheets. And Kristoff was no better, with his nose buried into her hair, hands spread flat across the whole of her back, bits of her hair spun through his upper hand’s fingers.

She wasn’t sure what exactly happened to get them into this situation, but they  _were_  both fully clothed so…

She closed the door and moved back out to the couch with her coffee, waiting patiently for them to wake up.

\----

Kristoff felt oddly warm when he woke up to an unfamiliar ring tone and hands pressing against his chest. He blinked a few times, letting his eyes adjust to the sunlight, and took in the pastel green walls. Oh, right. He had fallen asleep with Anna. In her bed. Touching her.

Right…

He glanced down his chest to see the messy red mane of Anna shifting over his body and a hand reaching blindly out to find her phone on the nightstand.

“Shit…” she muttered, flipping the phone to see the caller ID, and groaned when she saw Hans’ name pop up on the screen. “Nope. No.” Fingers fumbled over the edge of the phone to silence it before she placed it face down on the end table, and turned her eyes up to Kristoff.

He offered her a crooked grin. “Hey.”

A smile spread slowly across her lips. “Hi…”

Hands were rubbing soft circles against her back again, and Anna tucked her head under his chin, taking in a deep breath. “Thank you again… for last night…”

Kristoff nodded and pressed his cheek against the top of her head. “It was nothing, Anna.”

Rolling off of his chest onto her side, Anna shimmed up in the bed to get herself up to eye level with the blond, her eyes shining brightly at him. “No… really… Thank you. For everything.” She leaned forward to press a warm kiss on his cheek. “It means a lot to me.”

He lifted a hand to run down her cheek, pushing her hair back over her ear. “You’re welcome…”

\----

Elsa looked up from her paper when there was a firm knock on the door of the apartment. Who on earth would come to her door at… nine in the morning? The only real  _friend_  she had here was Kristoff… and he was asleep in her sister’s room.

...That still made her smile.

Maybe if she just ignored it, they would go away…

No such luck, she supposed, as the fist started rapping on the door again.

Rolling her eyes, Elsa stood up, wrapping her sweater tighter around her form before she made her way over to the entrance of the apartment. With a flick of her wrist, the door was unlocked and open, and she was standing face to face with

“Hans?”

“Ah…” He looked taken aback for a moment, before straightening his back and coughing. “Sorry, miss Arne. Is… Is Anna here?”

The blonde met his stance, crossing her arms over her chest, and stood as tall as she could manage. “Yes but… I believe she’s still asleep. From what I gather, she had… someone else come pick her up last night.”

Hans looked distraught, which was new for Elsa to see of her frequent client. His brows were furrowed, visibly upset, as if he didn’t know what else to say. She almost felt bad for him. “Come in,” she sighed, opening the door just a little wider. “Let me see if she’s awake.”

“Thank you, Elsa.”

Gesturing for him to sit and wait, Elsa made her way back to the bedroom.

\----

Anna was all warm eyes and soft smiles as he ran his thumb across her cheek, calloused fingers entangling themselves in her messy curls. She was almost afraid to admit how badly she wanted him to kiss her, instead resorting to pressing her hands firmly against the collar of his flannel. “Kristoff?”

He smiled at her. “Yeah?”

They both jumped when they heard the door click and open slowly, sitting up and shifting further apart as Elsa slid into the room silently. “Hey, guys… glad you’re awake,” she whispered, staring at the floor in front of her feet. “So… Hans is here.”

“What?” Anna hissed, looking down at her lap.

Elsa nodded, twisting her lips to one side in confusion. “Yeah… He’s on our couch, waiting for you to wake up. He said it’s urgent.”

Falling backwards against the mattress, Anna let out a loud, low groan, that only subsided when she felt Kristoff’s hand running across her hair.

“So…” Elsa laughed, tapping her finger against her chin. “Did something happen last night?”

Anna almost leaped out of her bed, pushing her sister out the door and mumbling. “Tell him I’ll be out in ten minutes.”

Shutting the door as Elsa left, Anna spun on her toes to look at Kristoff, who had his back to her as he moved to stand up out of her bed and stretch his arms up over his head. “So…”

He rubbed at the back of his neck, turning to face her. “You’re really gonna talk to him?”

She shrugged and turned to her dresser, pulled out a pair of pajama pants, and shimmied them up her thighs and under her dress. “Well, yeah… I mean, last night sucked but he’s… my kind of boyfriend sort thing? -- Hey...” Grabbing hold of a shirt,  Anna sighed and turned her back to him, pointing at the top of her dress. “Can you get my zipper for me?”

Blushing, Kristoff moved forwards to grasp the small zipper between his clumsy fingers, and began to pull it down her back. A lump formed in his throat as his eyes scanned over her slowly revealed milky skin and a massive dusting of freckles, and he immediately let go of the zipper when it hit the bottom of the track. “Okay so… I’m going to go out to the liv--”

“No!” she spun around, her hands pressing against his chest and her dress slipping down her shoulders to reveal a strap of her undergarments. “If Hans sees you leaving my room… He might assume…  _things_  happened.” Biting her lip and glancing around, Anna gestured vaguely with her hands. “Just… Turn around.”

With a roll of his eyes and a hesitant turn of his feet, Kristoff stood, arms crossed, and waited for the okay from Anna. He heard a shift of fabric, and did his best not to imagine her creamy skin wrapping around the whole of her, to her stomach, her hips, her…

“Okay.”

“So how am I supposed to get out of your room if Hans is out there?” He took a few steps to turn around, eyes landing on her just as she pulled a sweater over her arms.

Anna hummed, shaking her head. “Just wait a few minutes, and I’ll get him outside. Then you can come out. Okay?”

He sighed, turning his eyes down and offering her the best smile he could offer. “Yeah. Okay.”

Kristoff couldn’t admit how badly he wanted her to tell Hans to fuck off, and how badly he wanted to wrap her back up in his arms and sleep a little longer. Something about last night -- about  _Anna_  -- felt like home to him. Warm, comfortable, natural…

“Good luck, Anna. I hope it works out for you.”

Shaking off the feeling that there was something sad under his words, Anna stepped towards the door, waving behind her. “Thank you.”

\----

Hans was tapping his foot against the carpeted floor when Elsa vanished into her sister’s room. He heard hushed whispers and rolled his eyes, sure that Anna was still angry with him. After he left last night, he had  _technically_  called for a driver, but… maybe he forgot to give him the right address… or the description of the right woman.

She might have been the wrong one... But that one sure was  _skilled_.

Elsa reemerged, told him that Anna needed a few minutes, and then moved to her kitchen table to sit with coffee and her paper, occasionally glancing up at him with judgmental eyes.

What a horrible host, he had thought, crossing his legs and turning his eyes down to his lap. He had a feeling that convincing Anna that he was  _truly_  sorry wouldn’t be too challenging… Especially with what he had planned for her tonight.

Calling in a well deserved favor, Has had a wonderful evening planned, with a boat, dinner, champagne, and…

Well, tonight he would learn how  _worth it_ this girl was.

He stood as soon as he heard Anna’s door open, washing relief over his face when he saw her, stepping forward to wrap his arms around her shoulders. “Anna… God, I’m  _so_  sorry about last night…”

Patting at his back, Anna pulled apart from him, offered a half smile, and shrugged. She realized she had nothing to say, and started moving him towards the door. “Come on… Let’s go outside. I don’t want to bother Elsa with this…”

\----

As soon as he heard the front door shut, Kristoff came out of Anna’s room and sat down at the table across from his best friend.

“So…” Elsa folded her paper down and looked at her best friend. “What’s going on…?”

Sighing, Kristoff propped his chin in one hand and kept his eyes downcast. “Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

He tapped his fingers against his cheek and rolled his eyes up to his best friend. “... I might…  _kind of_ …” he lowered his voice into an almost inaudible mumble. “haveathingforyoursistermaybepossiblybutprobablynot?”

“Whoa,” Elsa laughed, patting her hand against the table. “You’re going to have to slow down and speak up.” A smile stretched at her cheeks as he glared at her, and she laughed out loud when he groaned and dropped his forehead against the table.

“She smells like flowers and I feel stupidly warm when she touches me and I hate this there’s a reason I don’t like people.”

Surprise came over her face, and she put her mug down on the table in front of them.

“Oh, Kristoff…”

He nodded. “Yep…”

\----

“So what do you want?” Anna had her arms crossed over her chest by the time they stepped over the threshold of the apartment, out onto the sidewalk.

Hans shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks, and added a slump to his stance. This was how he had learned to look apologetic, and judging by the softening of her face, he must have been doing  _something_  right. “Look I… I found out that the driver I called is… God, he’s terrible.”

Anna shrugged. “How so?”

“He…” Stepping forward to place a gentle hand against her upper arm, Hans frowned and knit his brows together. “He used our money and our time to ignore my request and drive out of town and get his girlfriend, I guess? We’ve fired him but… God, I’m sorry. I didn’t find out until late last night and I drove to the restaurant as soon as I could but it was closed and you were nowhere to be found.”

A roll of her eyes. “So… Why didn’t you call me?”

He lifted both of his hands to rest along her jaw, rubbing his thumbs against her cheeks. “It was so late… I had assumed you called your sister - or your friend - to pick you up. I didn’t want to  _wake_  you…”

Anna sighed and let her shoulders relax, lifting a hand to hold one of his wrists. “I… I forgive you, Hans… But I’m still upset.”

“Of course. You have every  _right_  to be, Anna…” Leaning forward to press a chaste kiss against her lips, Hans pressed his forehead against hers and smiled. “Please let me make it up to you…”

Smiling a little brighter, Anna wove her hands up and around his neck, and stepped a little closer. “How are you going to do that?”

Hans was fighting a grimace with a smile as he slid his hands down to her waist, pulling her a fraction closer still. “... It’s a surprise. I’ll pick you up at six, okay?”

“... Okay.”

He smiled and pulled away, leaving her obviously craving another touch, and moved to walk back towards his car. This was one of the easiest apologies he had ever had. “All right. I’ll see you tonight, then?”

Pulling her sweater close to her body again, Anna nodded. “Yeah. It better be good.”

“Oh… It will be.”

So good. Easier than he thought it would be. If she was already  _this_  forgiving, he couldn’t wait to see how willing she would be out on the water, looking at the mountains behind the city all lit up…

He waved and sat into his car, driving off as quickly as he could, watching her turn around and head back into the apartment.

\----

“So… a thing for Anna, huh?”

Kristoff started to repeatedly lift and drop his head against the table, groaning and letting Elsa continue to talk.

“Look!” she started, trying to talk over the sound of his forehead hitting wood. “It’s not a bad thing! I mean… She obviously likes you too - as a friend, at the very least. Oh, would you stop that.” Her hand darted out, pressing against the back of his head to keep it down on the table.

He stayed silent against the wood.

“She  _does_.”

A small noise of disagreement came from his throat.

Elsa sighed, rubbing a hand against her forehead. “So, are you going to do anything about it?”

Lifting his head and slumping down further in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest, Kristoff gave a slight shrug. “Well you see, my answer to that question would probably be a vaguely firm no.”

The door swung open, and Kristoff ducked down into his seat, biting back the blush that rose to his cheeks. He heard some shuffling of her kicking off her shoes and the soft padding of her feet against the carpet before her cheery little voice came around the divider.

“Hiii guys!”

Elsa smiled up at her sister, throwing Kristoff a hasty apologetic glance. “Everything okay?”

“Yep!” Anna leaned over Kristoff’s shoulders, wrapping her arms around his neck to push herself into the conversation, and completely missed his clenched jaw and frown. “He explained what happened… Turns out the driver he sent for me screwed up, blah blah blah, and he’s taking me out tonight to make up for it!”

Rolling his eyes, Kristoff turned his head away from her, staring purposefully into the wall. “Great. So happy for you.”

Giggling and bouncing back on her heels, Anna skipped back in the apartment, locking herself into the bathroom and immediately starting up the shower.

Offering a sympathetic hand, Elsa sighed. “Kris…”

“No, it’s fine.” He stood, scraping the chair legs against the floor. “I’m…” A hand on the back of his head and a twist of his waist as he looked around nervously. “I’m just gonna go, okay? I’ll…”

“Kristoff…”

“Seriously. It’s all good, Elsa.” He shrugged, and dug through his pockets to make sure he had his keys and his phone, and turned towards the door. “Getting over this shit is nothing new to me.”

After a couple steps, he turned back around with a wave. “Uh… See you.”

“... Bye…”

Elsa watched as he shut the door behind him, and dropped her head onto her arms on the table.

\----

Hans pulled up to the docks to check on his boat and make sure everything was set up perfectly for his planned evening with Anna. He was pleased that all of the help had left by the time he got there, and stepped up onto the deck. Everything had been laced with white lights, even the handrails down into the cabin.

Walking down the few steps, and ducking under the top of the doorway, he examined the inside of the cabin, satisfied with the full bar, and china sets tucked away under the sink. A smile tugged at his lips as he walked through the final door into the V-berth in the bow of the boat. Crisp white sheets were tucked tightly in under a deep blue comforter draped over the whole of the mattress.

He rolled his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest, and hoped that the mix of alcohol, the beautiful cityscape, and romantic music on a boat alone would convince her of just how  _sorry_  he was…

If Hans was being honest, he needed this to work - needed  _Anna_  to work. She was probably the only woman in Anchorage willing to be in a relationship with him… and he  _needed_  the ‘Wife-and-Kids’ life to convince his father that he was responsible and  _ready_  to be the first heir to his family’s business, over his brothers.

Lucky for him, Anna wasn’t too hard on the eyes.

His nerves, however, would require quite a bit of toughening up.

\----

Kristoff shut the door of his truck and sat silently for a moment, before slamming his hands against the wheel with a grunt. It was just a crush. Just a  _stupid_  crush, that never had any chance of going anywhere. There was a reason he hadn’t let himself develop feelings for anyone in years. The last time he had…

He shook his head and banged his forehead against the horn once before sitting back in his chair.

Of  _course_  she forgave Hans so quickly. Why would she stay angry at someone as  _perfect_  as him? Why would she ever think that maybe the  _friend_  who came to get her and who she slept so comfortably with would be worth a second look?

Rubbing his palms into his eyes, Kristoff let out a heavy breath. That was  _enough_. He barely even knew her, much less wanted her to give up her whole fairy tale relationship for him. Besides, it was just a crush.

A crush that formed because she smelled nice and made him laugh and was warm and welcoming and a  _great_  kisser.

It wouldn’t happen.

He did his best to shove it out of his mind.

\----

When Anna came back into the living room, she took one glance around before turning to Elsa and asking, “where’s Kristoff?”

“Oh… He had to…” Elsa turned to look at her sister, and smiled. “He had to get back to let Sven out. He said to say bye, and that he hoped you had a good time tonight.”

She blinked twice, and sighed. “Okay… I wish he had stayed to say goodbye…”

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Elsa offered her an apologetic half-shrug. “Sorry, Anna. The dog’s his best friend.”

“Yeah. I guess I’ll just talk to him later.”

“Don’t worry about him, Anna.” Elsa turned back to her newspaper, thankful that she finally had a chance to sit in silence and read it. “Just have fun tonight.”

\----

Hans had come to pick her up at six pm on the dot, and they were already making their way to his surprise location, which seemed to be outside the main city. Anna had asked over and over where they were going, and he would just laugh and pat her hand, reassuring her that she would  _love_  it, he promised.

Giving him a cocked eyebrow and smile as they pulled into a spot at the harbor, Anna started bouncing in her seat. “Are you taking me out on a boat?”

He winked at her and swiftly got out of his car before making his way around the hood to help her out of the passenger seat. Linking her hand through his arm, Hans led her around to the proper boardwalk to his docked ship. “I figured you might enjoy seeing the best view of the city.”

Anna was amazed at Hans’ ability to sail the large vessel on his own, but when she mentioned it he laughed it off.

“Oh, no. It’s such a short distance, and so much is operated electronically now… I couldn’t do a long trip on my own. But just out to…” he paused to point just a bit further out on the water. “...There? Easy. Now... Do me a favor, and keep your eyes on me. I don't want you to see the surprise before we get there.”

Anna nodded, more than happy to keep her gaze locked onto Hans.

It only took about fifteen minutes before he dropped the sails and brought the boat to a halt. Smiling at Anna, and grabbing for her hand, he lifted her knuckles to his lips and placed a chaste kiss against them. “Now… Close your eyes.”

She did as told, even using her fingers to help prevent herself from seeing anything he didn’t want her to.

“Wait here,” he suggested, stepping out of the cockpit and moving down towards the cabin. “I’ll get us some drinks… And remember,” he turned to point at her, his hand on the railing of the stairs. “No peeking.”

“Yes sir!” Anna cheered, keeping her hands pressed flatly over her eyes.

Hans poured the champagne quickly, reminding himself to monitor her alcohol intake tonight, and held the glasses firmly between three fingers as he made his way back up to the deck, grinning when he found her standing against the railing, her eyes still closed, and a bright smile on her face.

She may have been irritating, but she was certainly beautiful. If he could bed her, he’d  _probably_ be able to ignore the chatty and loud part of her personality. Honestly, he couldn’t have been more thankful that she had dressed up so lovely - it’d be even more satisfying for him to peel her clothing away. That soft, flowing dress and her loose curls billowed out around her as she stood, waiting for him, and for a moment, he thought that maybe this was true infatuation.

“Anna…” Hans took a few steps towards her, moving more quickly when she turned to face his voice. “All right… Put out your hand, I have a drink for you.”

As soon as the glass was in her hand and he had one of his free again, he placed it on her waist, and turned her to face the city skyline. “Okay…”

“Okay?” She was bouncing on her toes, trying desperately not to open her eyes.

“And… Look.”

Blue eyes fluttered open, growing wider, her jaw dropping, as she took in the view of the lit up city skyline in front of her, back dropped by the large mountain range to the northeast. The lights of the buildings along with the moonlight brightened the snow covered peaks of the mountain tops, and everything was reflected in the water surrounding Anchorage.

“Oh my… God…” Anna was completely breathless, no words forming in her brain as she took in the sights. Until she felt warm hands circling around her waist, and a chin resting into the crook of her neck.

“I’m so sorry about last night,” he mumbled, pressing a kiss against her jaw. “But I’d love it if you gave me another chance. More nights like this are possible if you do.”

Leaning forward on the railing, Anna tilted her head to give him more access to her neck, and sighed. “I… wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t giving you another chance…” She took a small sip of the champagne, smacking her lips together as she tasted a hint of strawberries in the drink.

Anna turned to face him, keeping her face close to his, and pressed her back into the railing while wrapping her arms around his neck. “Don’t make me regret it.”

The rest of the night was a blur for Anna, between the chill of the air mingling with his heat, the alcohol making her head swim, and the far beyond romantic view, she found herself down in the cabin, three drinks down, her dress unzipped and Hans’ shirt completely gone. She had planned to wait, honestly, she did…

But his hands and mouth were so warm, words so sweet in her ear, that she couldn’t help but give in, letting him lead her to the cabin’s bed, slide the chiffon of her dress down over her shoulders, and mark her as his.


	12. Chapter 11

Anna was laying out on the deck, wrapped up in a blanket, waiting for Hans to follow her up, when she decided it was probably best if she let her sister know that she wouldn’t be home tonight.

_**[ hey elsa! staying the night w/ hans on his boat!!! so cool ]** _

_[  … Wait, what? You’re spending the night with him? On a boat? ]_

_**[ pay attention, sis. it’s totally ok! he’s got a whole big cabin on this boat! lots of room. totally safe and weather is good! ]** _

Anna groaned when she saw her sister’s name come up again. It’s not that she didn’t love talking to Elsa… but the sky was bright and clear, with a beautiful and luscious dusting of all the stars no longer polluted by the city lights.

Though she did wish she could see the aurora borealis…

_[ Anna are you sure about this? Just… be safe, okay?]_

Hans came up the steps, and Anna grinned up at him as he sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

_**[ will do, elsa. see you tomorrow! ]** _

He kissed her full on the lips, and Anna couldn’t help but drop her phone down on the deck beside them as he deepened it.

\----

Elsa sighed, clenching her phone tightly between her fingers. Anna may have been twenty, may have been a grown woman and able to make her own decisions, but that didn’t stop the awful nausea that filled her stomach. Just this morning she was angry at him, didn’t even want to see him… and now she was spending the night with him?

That apology must’ve been something else.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, making her jump. She definitely hadn’t been expecting another text from Anna. And if it wasn’t Anna, then…

_[ hey there ice queen. is your sister back from her magical evening of being whisked away by mister fancy pants? ]_

_**[ Ah… no… Kristoff, sorry. She’s not. She’s spending the night. ]** _

About ten minutes passed before Kristoff replied, which Elsa had spent staring at her phone and willing his name to pop up.

_[ cool. just wanted to see if she wanted to go on a walk tomorrow with me and Sven. didn’t want to bug her if she was still out though. thanks. ]_

Falling backwards onto her bed with a groan, Elsa rubbed at her temples. This was all going to be so complicated, wasn’t it? If she had it her way, she’d just love for her sister and best friend to get together, honestly.

But it was Anna’s life… and Anna’s choice.

\----

Kristoff decided it was time for a run. Something to burn off his energy. Moving quickly, he changed, put Sven on his leash, and went out the door, starting on his usual path.

He wanted so badly for this to be out of his head. He didn’t like her. He didn’t want or need her. Why on earth was he getting so upset over this? He barely  _knew_ her!

Shifting his focus to his steps, to his breath, Kristoff managed a good mile before he thought about her again. Before he thought about her tiny little fingers holding onto his. Before he thought about  _her_ breath on his throat, warm and comforting and…

He shook his head, picked up his pace, and increased his heart rate.

No woman had gotten under his skin like this before - and, truth be told, he wasn’t about the let one get there now.

\----

“Hey, Anna,” Elsa greeted up over the top of her paper when her little sister finally came through the door the following morning. “Did you have a nice night?”

Giggling, Anna flopped down on her back on the couch beside her sister, stretching her legs out over the armrest, and resting her head on Elsa’s leg. “It was… Oh, Elsa… It was  _amazing_. Hans is amazing…” She bit her lip and lifted her hands to cover her mouth, still snickering. “We… um…”

Elsa dropped her paper and shot her gaze down towards the redhead. “Anna! Did you…”

Doing her best to keep an innocence to her smile, Anna twisted on the couch to sit on her knees and face her sister. “We… did  _things_. It was… Interesting.”

The blond furrowed her brows together. “Interesting? Well that doesn’t exactly sound  _good_.”

“It wasn’t… bad… just…” Anna pressed her elbow into the back of the couch, and leaned her head against her palm. “He just seemed kind of… calculating. Like he does it the same way every time, almost?” Shrugging, she lowered her voice into a bit of a mumble. “I mean, he was…  _phew_ … He was  _good_. But he was a little more focused on himself than me, I think.”

Laughing, Elsa covered her mouth with her hand and gave Anna a sideways glance. “I’m sure you can help him learn how to be more attentive to you. You’re not exactly a… quiet person, when it comes to what you want.”

There was a twinge of an off feeling in the back of Elsa’s mind, as Anna continued recalling the events of the previous evening. To her, Anna was still the little fifteen year old girl that she left all those years ago. It was almost shocking to her that her baby sister was so… grown up. Champagne, nights on boats, what could maybe blossom into love, and sex…

When Anna started on about how much she liked Hans, Elsa felt a little hurt in her heart for her best friend. She knew him well enough to know that his feelings ran deeper than he would admit. Kristoff certainly wasn’t the type to kiss a girl, let her lay on his lap, pick her up in the middle of the night, and sleep with her curled up against him if he didn’t want more from her.

He didn’t like people, and he certainly wouldn’t be spending so much time with Anna if he didn’t want  _more_.

Elsa  _wanted_  to be happy for Anna, but she couldn’t find it in her to forget about Kristoff’s feelings. So she plastered a smile onto her face as her sister continued to speak, and did her best to convey at least a  _look_ of excitement for her.

Anna paused when Elsa’s phone chimed, looking down with a small hint of sadness playing in her eyes. “Is that Kristoff?”

“Uh… yeah…”

Biting her lip and twirling her fingers together, Anna took in a deep breath. “I think he’s mad at me… He wouldn’t answer my texts since yesterday…”

The blonde placed a warm hand on her shoulder and smiled. “I’m sure he’s just busy. It’ll be okay.”

\----

It had been three days since Kristoff answered her texts. He flinched when he saw her name pop up on his phone.

_[ hey… ]_

He ignored it.

_[ … are you mad at me? ]_

Kristoff sighed, placing his phone back into his pocket. He was on his break at work, and he really didn’t feel like dealing with his  _feelings_ right now. Figuring the less he talked to her, the better, he ignored the next three buzzes. He caved and looked at the fourth.

_[ … please answer me… ]_

_[ what did I do? ]_

_[ Kristoff… please… ]_

_[ you’re my only friend. please don’t be mad at me… ]_

Groaning, Kristoff quickly punched in as short as text as would answer the question.

_**[ Not mad. At work. ]** _

_[ … okay ]_

The last thing he needed was her knowing how infatuated with her he was - knowing how stupidly interested in her he had grown. He had told her that she was his type, but he had to conceal the rest. Had to hide the warmth that he felt when she was around, hide the desire to just touch her constantly, and hide all of his  _feelings_.

He hated feelings.

Shaking the weight of them off his shoulders, he tossed his phone back in his truck and moved to head back to work, doing his best to push Anna out of his mind.

\----

Hans took a deep breath as an old flame of his sat down at the table beside him, shooting him a mischievous grin.

“It’s been a while, Hans.” Her voice was low and sultry, and he adored how she only said what was needed - a complete contradiction to Anna’s cheerful and bubbly prattle. “What made you call?”

“Claudia…” he smiled, placing a warm hand over her much smaller one, and leaned a little closer. “Do I  _need_ a reason?”

She laughed, bright green eyes reflecting her amusement, and placed her other hand over his. “You don’t  _need_  one… But you always  _have_ one.”

She was right, of course. Anna was beautiful, had sweet, plush lips, and was all  _sorts_  of willing to try things… But she was still relatively innocent. And sometimes, he wanted something a little bit  _wilder_. Winking, Hans pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “I just need a little stress relief… And you’ve always been my favorite.”

Their past was long and complicated, but the raven haired girl knew all about him, and refused to continue to see him past occasional and casual sex. She had admitted being in love with him once… but when she learned about his past, Claudia had decided it best for her to cut it short.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a little fun.

“Favorite, huh?” She propped her chin up on her hand, elbow pressed against the table, and rolled her eyes. “If I recall correctly, you were  _always_ seeing other women.”

Laughing, Hans moved his hand to cup the back of her head, tugging gently on her soft locks. “Well, I’m seeing someone else right now. Does that change your mind about being here?”

Claudia placed a firm hand on his mid thigh and smirked. “Has it ever?”

\----

_**[ Can you please talk to Anna? ]** _

_[ I answered her today. ]_

_**[ Four words… ]** _

_[ Better than nothing, right? ]_

Elsa sighed, and pressed a couple fingers against her forehead. She knew Anna was hiding how much it was getting to her, and she knew Kristoff was ignoring how upset  _he_  was by the whole situation. She just had to get them in the  _same room_ … Maybe then they’d talk about it…

_**[ Come over tonight. We can hang out and talk about it. ]** _

_[ … Just us? ]_

_**[ Probably? I think Anna has something planned with Hans? ]** _

So maybe that wasn’t  _entirely_ true… but she did say she thought. That wasn’t guaranteed.

_[ … Great. Sure. ]_

Smiling to herself, Elsa cheered inwardly. She just hoped that when Kristoff got here and saw Anna, he wouldn’t leave immediately.

\----

Somewhat pleased that Kristoff had finally replied to her (despite it only being four words…), Anna had offered to run out and get some coffee and pastries for her and Elsa, while her sister continued to work on her ledgers and other paperwork for her clients. Elsa had  _finally_ let her take the car on her own.

As she pulled into the lot of the cafe, her eyes landed on the familiar silver Mercedes. Why was Hans here? He knew it was her favorite cafe, but he had no idea that she was coming down here… Was he going to surprise her with something?

A new skip formed in her step as she headed towards the entrance, grinning from ear to ear by the time her hand hit the door. They didn’t have another date planned for a few days, but the possibility of just running into him randomly around town excited her. She’d love to see her sort-of-boyfriend today - it’d really be the icing on top of the cake.

Pushing the door open with gusto, Anna burst in, eyes excitedly searching the room for Hans, smile dropping when her gaze landed on the red headed businessman. He wasn’t alone, which obviously meant he wasn’t there for  _her_ …

She rested her hands against the back of a free chair, watching with curiosity.

That woman must have been a client… or a coworker… or a superior? Maybe?

Anna bit at her lip as they laughed together, and watched with tense shoulders as her hand landed on his thigh. Okay, that was a little weird, as was how  _close_ they were together.

The woman tucked her hair behind her ear, and Anna got a closer look at her face. She didn’t  _look_  familiar… But she  _had_  to either be a close friend or a… very inappropriate work associate for Hans to be leaning in that close, and touching her hand like that, and sitting further up in his chair to force her hand up higher and  _oh god…_

He was kissing her.

 _Kissing_ her…

Anna clenched the back of the chair she was leaning on with hands so tight her knuckles began to turn white.

Did he really think that this was  _okay_? Weren’t they… Wasn’t he her…

Judging by how his hands wandered and how he let the stranger touch  _him_ , Hans and Anna weren’t much of  _anything_.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away. It felt like hours before the woman pulled away and whispered something in his ear that caused him to stare after her with dark eyes as she moved towards the restrooms. Anna quickly realized that this was probably the best opportunity to confront him. How  _dare_ he?

“Hans!”

He jumped at the sound of his name, glaring towards the offending voice, and immediately forced his face to soften when he noticed who was approaching him, steam practically puffing out of her ears. Wonderful. This would, without a doubt, put a damper on his day.

“Anna…”

Stopping just in front of him, and watching as he stood in front of her, Anna huffed out an infuriated breath. “Who’s that? Why are you here with  _her_? Why are you  _touching_  like that? Why on  _earth_  are you  _cheating_ on me?”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down… Don’t make a scene,” he started, placing hands on her shoulders and giving her a soft smile as she relaxed. “I’m not  _cheating_ … Anna, we never discussed if we were exclusive or not.”

Her shoulders dropped. “... What?”

She had briefly informed him that she hadn’t properly dated much in the past, and Hans was going to use that to his advantage. She didn’t really  _know_  how dating worked, right? Much less dating in your late twenties… For all she knew, this was perfectly  _normal_.

“Anna, we’re just  _dating_. We’re not a couple… I thought you understood that?”

Her face faltered, as if she were scolding herself for not knowing something that was seemingly so basic. Perfect.

“We’re not exclusive -- I mean,  _god_ , I like you a  _lot_ … I really do, and I want to keep seeing you but…” He stroked his hand down her cheek, and pressed a soft kiss to her still turned down lips. “... Until I know if there’s a future for us, I think it’s best we see other people, too.”

Well…  _He_ could see other people, at least.

Anna bit at her lip and shrugged. “I don’t know if I’m okay with that…”

Brushing her loose hair back behind her ear, Hans’ mouth turned slightly downward at the corners. “We can talk about it more later, if you’d like.” He leaned down to kiss her cheek again, before continuing. “Come over tonight. About seven. I’ll text you the address. We’ll talk.”

“You’re going to leave with her?”

What a child.

He gave Anna a quick hug, rubbing a soft circle on her back. “It’d be rude for me to leave her… I’m so sorry, Anna.”

As much as he wanted to continue to see other women, if it was going to possibly ruin his chances with Anna - and therefore his chances at becoming the sole heir of his father’s business - he may have to stop.

Or at least be more careful about it.

He pulled away, hoping that when they talked tonight, he’d be able to make her  _see_ this point of view. That dating wasn’t exclusive, at least not until he had her under his thumb.

“We’ll talk later, okay?”

Anna watched him meet back up with the raven haired woman, make a vague gesture with his head, heard her laugh, and immediately flushed a bright red. Was he talking about her? About how silly she was?

Was it childish to assume that dating someone meant you were  _only_ dating them?

Doing her best to shove him out of her mind and get back to Elsa, Anna ran up to the counter and ordered her drinks as quickly as possible.

\----

Hans’ breath hitched in his throat as low moans echoed up from his lap. Oh, he had  _not_ chosen incorrectly in calling this one. She was the type who got more enjoyment out of pleasing her partner, and that was  _absolutely_ fine by him.

He knew that nothing would probably happen with sweet little Anna for a while now, and was more than happy to oblige when Claudia offered up her  _services_. She was a minx, and knew exactly where and how he liked to be touched… and could topple him over the edge in just a few minutes.

When she was finished, she stretched up to kiss him.

Grimacing, Hans pushed her back. “Sweetheart, you know the rules.”

She was a wonderful partner, but oh so  _awful_ at hiding her disappointment. “Right, yeah.”

He glanced at his watch, noting the time, and mumbled a quick “I have to go,” shoving her from his lap. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you want to… meet up again.”

\----

When Anna got home, she handed Elsa her coffee, before quickly and quietly sitting down on the couch. She didn’t even so much as look at the blonde, keeping her eyes locked onto the coffee table as she sipped at her hot chocolate.

“Thanks…” Elsa stared at the back of her head until she couldn’t take it anymore. “Is something wrong? You’re never this quiet.”

Anna was tapping her nails against the armrest, and stayed silent. She knew her sister meant well, but she wasn’t ready to talk about this yet. Besides, she wasn’t sure Elsa would answer her truthfully or not - they were still adjusting to one another, and it was obvious that neither wanted to get onto the other’s bad side for as long as they could manage. Anna was fine with that, but it meant she couldn’t exactly talk to her sister about serious issues yet.

“Anna?”

“I’m okay. Please, just… Don’t worry. It’s fine.”

Elsa frowned, but turned back to her paperwork, letting her little sister wallow in whatever was affecting her mood so negatively.

She couldn’t get out of her head. Was this truly normal? Was it okay to be seeing more than one person at once? It wasn’t like her dating history was exactly spectacular… in fact, it was almost nonexistent. Anna had never really  _dated_ … just… hooked up with. Hung out with. Whatever it was.

After Elsa had left… she was desperate to feel wanted by  _someone_.

Boys liked her…

Shaking her head and leaning towards one side of the couch, Anna covered her head with her arms. There was no reason to go back there. She wasn’t that person anymore, and she didn’t need to think about it.

Besides, she  _did_  like Hans…  _really_  liked him. He was kind and sweet and romantic and  _wanted_  her. But was it so wrong to want some sort of guarantee that she was his top priority? That she was  _all_ he wanted?

Anna stood up abruptly, checking the time on her phone, and moved towards the door. “I’ll be back later, Elsa. I have something I have to do, okay?”

“Wait, I… ah…” Almost knocking her coffee over with how quickly she stood, Elsa scrambled over to grab her sister’s arm. “I had some plans tonight, for us and… and Kristoff, if you’d like. He’s coming over at eight…”

An idea snapped in Anna’s mind.

 _Kristoff_.

“Oh, yeah! I’ll be back by then. Or close to then. I promise!”

Anna ran off before Elsa could reply.

\----

Hans stood quickly when he heard a knocking on his condo’s door, and opened it to find a huffy little red head on the other side. “Anna… I’m glad you came.” He shifted to the side, gesturing for her to cross the threshold. “Come in, please.”

Taking a few steps into the living room, Anna turned on her heel to face Hans, not even giving him a chance to say anything. “So you’re saying that because we’re  _just_ dating, we’re not exclusive, right?”

He hesitated. “... Yes.”

“So…” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a hard stare. “So  _I_ can see other people, too.”

Hans propped his hands on his hips, forcing a smile onto his face. “Well, I suppose that’s only fair.” Was she serious? He’d have to step up his game with her later if this was how she felt. “Do you have someone in mind?”

Her smile held a mock-innocence, and she shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe. But it’s just good to know I can go out and talk to other men if I want to.”

He knew she would be a little difficult, but she was becoming a bit more of a  _wild card_ than he would have ideally wanted. That was fine. She could play this game for a short while, if she wanted to. He knew how to play it better. “Absolutely. Fair’s fair.”

“Great.”

Hans stepped forward to touch her, but she avoided him, and moved towards the door.

“Anyway, I have plans with my sister tonight.” She kept her face fairly stoic as she left, hand on the doorknob before she turned to look at him. “I’ll call you later!”

Staring after her for a while after the door shut, the ginger blinked a few times in disbelief. Had she really just done that? Honestly, he was hoping that she was already infatuated with him enough to not  _want_ to see other people…

Oh well.

He could use this to his benefit, if played correctly.

\----

Kristoff sighed with relief when he got up the stairs to the door of Elsa’s apartment and couldn’t hear anything besides the very low volume of the television. That most likely meant that Anna was out, and that he’d be able to just spend some time with his best friend. He knocked and waited patiently for Elsa to answer.

Immediately after she did, they said their hellos and he went to the kitchen to grab a beer. “You know,” he called over the door, laughing at her always stocked fridge, “I love that you always have my favorite here. I should probably start paying you for these.”

Elsa shrugged as he sat beside her at the table, and continued thumbing through the takeout menus. “Please. With all you do for me, and are doing for Anna now… beer is the least I can do to repay you.” She tapped at her chin, and shoved the pamphlets towards him. “You pick.”

The front door burst open as Anna came inside, kicking off her shoes with an angry groan. “I can’t believe him!”

Kristoff shrunk in his seat, trying his best to pretend like he wasn’t there.

Elsa stood up to greet her sister. “Anna… What happened?”

“Nothing. Just… Nothing. Apparently we aren’t as serious as I thought.” Anna sat on the couch and took a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it though. Can we just…” Turning around to look at her sister, she finally noticed Kristoff sitting beside her. A blush rose to her cheeks as she tried to keep her eyes on him. “Oh… Hi!”

He waved at her, but kept attempted to glance through the menus. They… weren’t as serious as she thought? Did that mean…  _No_. Kristoff clenched his jaw and focused on  _not_ thinking about any potential feelings he might have for her.

Elsa glanced between them, sending apologetic eyes to Kristoff, and turned back to Anna. “What do you want for dinner?” She gestured to the table of menus, smiling when the redhead stood up and walked over to sit beside Kristoff. “We can’t decide.”

Stretching to grab all of the menus, Anna wound up reaching across Kristoff’s chest, not even noticing how he shivered under the brush of her hair under his chin. “Do we have Chinese? I could go for some sweet and sour chicken.”

Kristoff scooted his chair back from the table (and as a result, moved further away from Anna), and bit back his blush when she looked up at him, confused. “Yeah. Under Greek.” He pointed his finger towards it, and as soon as she opened up the menu, shot a glare over at Elsa. Wasn’t she supposed to be gone tonight?

Shrugging and offering an expression that she hoped wasn’t  _too_ guilt-ridden, she moved to grab the telephone and place their order - which wound up being way more than what a normal group of three people would get.

“Okay,” she placed down the phone and sat on the armchair near the couch, smirking when Kristoff glared at her as he and Anna moved towards the long sofa. “It’ll be here in like twenty minutes. What do you want to do in the mean time?”

“Man,” Anna snorted, shrugging off her sweater and exposing the lace trimmed camisole underneath. With a wink, she leaned over and poked Elsa’s arm. “I thought you had stuff planned.”

Eyes wide and cheeks red, Kristoff couldn’t take his eyes off of her shoulders and neck, freshly exposed from the removal of her sweater, and even more now as she tugged her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head. And as she leaned forward to grab the television remote, arms squeezing her chest in that  _one particular_   _way_ … he coughed and stood up abruptly, walking backwards in the apartment to the bathroom.

The sisters stared after him, before looking at one another and shrugging.

_Shit, shit, shit._

Kristoff turned on the faucet and splashed cold water over his face, bracing his hands on the edge of the sink. Was she teasing him on purpose? No, no. Why would she do that? She had no reason to do that…

He heard a knock on the door, and turned to face it.

“Kris…?”

Even her voice was making him shake.

“I’m fine, Anna.”

She leaned against the door, producing a tiny, but audible  _thump_ , and he sighed, opening the door and letting her in. “I’m fine.”

He just wanted her to stop staring at him… He had been  _so wrong_  about ignoring her making this easier. It just made him want to touch her  _more_. At least when they hung out frequently, she hugged him and grabbed his hands and arms and made him feel so stupidly warm.

He  _really_ felt the lack of warmth.

And the way she was staring at him made him weak in the knees.

He had promised himself that after  _her_ , he wouldn’t let himself get close to anyone else that way. He couldn’t take it. But Anna was making that more and more difficult.

“I’m okay.”

Smiling at him, Anna stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his middle. “Are you still mad at me?” Her voice was muffled against his shirt, and he hesitantly wrapped his arms up around her shoulders.

“I told you I wasn’t mad.”

“Okay, good!” she cheered, stepping backwards, and sliding her hands down to grab his. “Then come on. Elsa pulled out a game. It looks like fun!”

Kristoff couldn’t stop his cheeks from flushing and a small smile from stretching across his lips.


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the ending of this chapter isn't too abrupt. It was originally part of a much larger chapter... that wound up being so long, I decided to split it into two parts :P so here is the first! next will be up soon ;)

Anna was moving with a purpose as she took the long trek over towards Kristoff’s house. She needed to talk to him, and Elsa had very hesitantly given her his address. It was a little outside of town, and probably a little too far to walk… but she didn’t mind. It gave her plenty of time to figure out what exactly she was going to say.

Last night had gone relatively smoothly - especially after the food came, and they started playing some card game that showed Elsa’s more inappropriate side to Anna. They had laughed a lot, and Kristoff had let her lean on him again, and was more than happy to mess with her. Between stealing food directly off one another’s plates, and him nudging her to try and distract her as he peeked at her cards… Anna felt like she had a real friend back.

Having her friend back made her think about Hans’ _seeing other people_ suggestion, and _really_ made her think about seeing if Kristoff wanted to go on an actual date with her. She was attracted to him, after all, and she had a really great time spending time with him… Where was the harm in going out with him… with a bit more of a romantic undertone to it?

She had _tried_ to bring it up last night, but it felt like something she shouldn’t talk about in front of her sister. How do you tell your sister that you wanted to date her best friend?

Anna finally caught sight of the house at the address Elsa had told her, and felt a smile stretching her cheeks. It was such a sweet little ranch house, with a deep brown wood outside, a long porch, and a single door garage. She saw his truck in the driveway and sighed with relief, happy that he was actually home.

Stepping up the stairs and taking a deep breath before she knocked, she froze and panicked when she heard a commotion inside - barking, the bang of something falling over, and a small voice screaming “No!!! You _can’t_ open it without tapping your nose first!”

If she had known he had people over, she _never_ would have tried to bother him. Turning to run from the porch, Anna froze with one foot in the air when the door swung open and she heard a familiar voice.

“Anna?”

She put her foot back down and turned around quickly, throwing a hand up in front of her shoulder to wave. “... Hi!”

Kristoff smiled at her, leaning up against the door frame and nodded. “Did Elsa give you my address?”

“Yeah…”

A little girl appeared at Kristoff’s side, clinging to his leg and looking up at Anna with curious brown eyes.

“Hi…” Anna glanced over her, amused at her little frilly dress and fairy wings.

“Who are you?”

Anna blinked, let her hand drop to her side and knelt down to meet the girls’ eye level, with a smile. “I’m Anna. I’m a friend of --”

“You’re pretty” She was tapping her toe against the metal at the bottom of the door frame, eyes shifting downward to stare at the wood porch. “I like your hair.”

Laughing, Anna tucked her hair behind her ear. “Well, thank you.”

Kristoff was watching with interest, smiling down at the two girls. “This is Katie. She’s --”

“Are you Krissy’s girlfriend?” Her voice shifted into a giggle, bursting into a full laugh as Kristoff reached down and hoisted her up over his shoulder with an embarrassed “Okay!”, and carried her back into the house.

“Come on in, Anna!” he called behind him, moving in towards the living room and dropping the little girl onto the couch.

Anna stepped over the threshold, closing the heavy blue door behind her, and stepped into his house to see four kids sprawled out across the room. Giving Sven a quick pet as he jumped around her feet excitedly, Anna examined the house in more detail. For some reason, she was surprised to see how clean the house was - she almost expected Kristoff to be messy…

She was suddenly really embarrassed about the state of _her_ room…

Kristoff came up to her after poking at the little girls tummy, and leaned up against the wall near her. “Hey. Sorry…”

They both watched as Sven trotted off and started rolling around on the floor with the fairy girl and a little toddler.

“Oh, no, no!” Anna protested, waving her hands in front of her face. “Please. I came over unannounced. Besides… they’re adorable.” Leaning over to look at the kids, she smiled when the little girl waved at her again.

Laughing, he turned his body full on to face her, and stepped just a little closer. “So what’s up?”

Anna blushed and snapped up, her back straight, and bit at her lip. “Actually um… I… was wondering if maybe… you’d…” She felt herself shrinking under his confused gaze, and started twisting her fingers in her shirt. “If you’d… um… let me come on walks with you again?”

Kristoff went to ask if that’s _really_ what the question was, wondering why the _hell_ she would walk all the way here just to ask something that could have been resolved by a phone call, when he felt a pillow hit him in the back of the head. “... Hey!”

“Kris!” A young boy, of maybe ten or eleven, was waving from the couch. “Call of Duty time, let’s go!”

“Hang on, Jase!”

The blond turned back to Anna, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. “So, um… Is that really why you came here?”

She nodded eagerly, her cheeks still flushed.

“Well, all right…” He laughed and stepped back. “Of course you can, Anna. I know Sven’s missed you,” Kristoff finished with a wink, nudging her with his elbow.

Clasping her hands together in front of her chest, Anna bounced on her toes and nodded. “Well… Great! That’s great.” She looked around and shrugged. “Well. Yeah, that’s it. So… I’m gonna go, then!”

“Hey, wait!”

She froze, staring up at him with her mouth slightly agape. “...Yeah?”

Kristoff rubbed at the back of his neck and laughed quietly. “Ah… I mean… You came all the way here… I know I’m babysitting but, uh, I could definitely benefit from some help. These kids are a little nuts.” His face was ruddy, and he was avoiding her gaze. “Do… Do you want to stay? Hang out… maybe?”

Smiling, Anna nodded. “Yes!”

\----

After inviting Anna to get comfortable and making sure she didn’t want anything to eat or drink (and also reassuring her that she could help herself to anything in the kitchen), Kristoff moved back towards the living room with her in tow, and clapped his hands together. “All right, kiddos, line up oldest to youngest. Introduction time!”

The kids all groaned and stood up, making Anna laugh behind her hand at their disdain.

“First of all, this is Anna.” The kids all waved and waited for the rest of the introductions. Kristoff pointed at the kids one by one, starting with a tall, lanky girl, whose eyes were glued to her phone. “That’s Shawna. She _never_ stops texting.”

Lifting one hand in a vague greeting gesture before immediately returning back to her phone, Shawna mumbled something that was possibly a hello, and moved back to sit on the arm chair with Sven next to her.

“Okay… Next up, Jason.” Kristoff smiled when he actually waved and said a proper hello. “He loves video games. Pretty much all he does.”

“And I’m the best!” He looked beyond proud of himself, standing up tall with his hands directly at his sides.

“That’s right kid, you are,” Kristoff laughed, twisting at his hips to make sure Anna was all right before continuing onward, as Jason moved back to sit on the couch. “You’ve already met Katie… sort of. She likes all that fantasy fairytale stuff.”

Bouncing forward on her tip toes, she wrapped her arms around Anna’s legs. “And princesses. I like princesses too! My favorite story is Rapunzel!”

“Your favorite story changes weekly, Kid.” Kristoff couldn’t help but smirk as Katie continued to spin around his friend’s legs, twisting her jeans up, before settling on the floor next to her. “And finally, we’ve got little Brennan…” He almost lunged forward to pick up the toddler, holding him up over his head as he giggled, and set him down on his shoulder, turning to face Anna. “And that makes all four.”

Anna smiled, met his gaze directly, and nodded. “They’re all your…”

“Nieces and nephews,” he started, noting the slight confusion on her face. “I… I was adopted.”

“Oh!” Laughing, Anna let out a little tension that had settled in her shoulders. “That makes a _lot_ more sense.”

She didn’t want to say anything, but she _had_ found it kind of weird that they were all a completely different race than him… She had gathered that his father died, but he didn’t mention his _mother_ … “Oh.”

Giving her a soft smile. “Yeah.”

An uncomfortable silence fell between them, Anna worrying her bottom lip, and Kristoff letting the toddler down when he began to fuss, turning his head to watch him as he waddled back over to the center of the room. She stepped forward to press a comforting hand against his arm, and immediately removed it when his head jerked around to look at her.

Maybe she _should_ have left.

“Um…”

“Kristoff! Come _on_!” Jason whined, holding up his second controller. “I said Call of Duty time like thirty minutes ago! Let’s goooo!”

He laughed and excused himself, and moved to the couch to sit with his nephew. “All right, kid. Prepare to go down.”

“You never beat me, dork!”

Shawna was laughing, and glanced up from her phone for just a minute. “He lets you win, Jase. Didn’t you know that?”

“No way!! I’m just really great, _okay_?!”

Anna was still for a moment, just listening to the exchange between the three of them, before she felt a little tug on her pant leg. Glancing down, she saw the warm honey eyes of the toddler - Brennan, she remembered - and knelt down to greet him. “Hi there.”

“Up.”

Giggling, Anna reached out and grabbed the boy under his arms before hoisting him up in the air.

“That way,” he mumbled pointing towards the couch with one hand, the other one grabbing at her braid.

“Yes sir.” Taking the few strides over to the living room, Anna found an open spot on the floor and sat, placing the toddler into her lap. “What do you want to do, buddy?”

He looked at her with wide eyes before wiggling out of her hands and crawling out of her lap, straight over to a large felt playmat with wooden tracks on it.

Feeling rejected, Anna curled her hands up into her lap and sat quietly, until Katie sat down beside her. “It’s okay,” she mumbled, placing down her sketchbook and crayons. “He prefers to play alone. It’s not ‘cause he doesn’t like you.”

She let out a soft sigh of relief, and turned her eyes down to the little girl. “Thank you.”

“Mhmmmm.” She started coloring, drawing simple shapes and designs, for a few minutes, before she looked back up at Anna, who had started watching their video game with interest, laughing as Kristoff and Jason were shoving each other and hollering trash talk, and Shawna was rolling her eyes. “So are you Krissy’s girlfriend?”

Blue eyes turned back down towards Katie, and Anna’s face was bright red. “Ah… nope. Just a friend.”

They sat silently again, Anna blushing deeper when Kristoff turned to look at her, giving her a smile wider than she thought she had ever seen him give anyone before.

“Why not?” Katie was almost monotone as she asked, interrupting Anna’s thoughts.

“... Why am I not his girlfriend?”

“Mhmm… You’re pretty. And he smiles at you a lot. You _should_ be his girlfriend.”

She laughed and rubbed at the back of her neck, shifting the position of her legs to fight off the pins and needles that had started. “Well… Just smiling at someone doesn’t necessarily make a solid relationship.”

Shrugging, Katie kept coloring. “Well you have only been here for a little and I’ve never seen him smile at someone so much.”

Anna’s face stayed red, and she quietly stood and moved to the couch, sitting beside Kristoff. He looked up at her, watching as she sat, and she nudged him with her elbow. “You’re dying.”

“Oh shit--”

“Bad word!!” Katie yelled, hopping up and grabbing the little glass jar on the table. “Grammy says you have to put a quarter in every time you say a bad word!”

Shawna glanced up from her phone and laughed. “Katie, shit is _barely_ a bad--”

“You too!”

After he sighed and placed two quarters into the jar, while ignoring the little girl’s happy laughing at the sound of the metal hitting glass, Kristoff turned to Anna. “You wanna try?”

“Um… sure?” She couldn’t stop blushing as his hands wrapped around hers as he directed her in how to hold the controller, his cheek close enough to hers that she was sure he was able to feel the heat of her blush.

“So… This is the button to shoot… this one to duck… this to aim… yeah.”

Risking one glance at him, she clenched the controller just a little tighter as she watched his mouth move, tongue darting out to lick at his bottom lip before he continued directing her.

“This to…”

She could barely hear him, and she knew she had missed some important direction.

“Okay?”

Turning her head further, she noticed his smile, and felt butterflies churning in her stomach. “Yeah… I’m probably going to forget what’s what though.” He really _did_ smile at her a lot. Did… did that _mean_ something? He _had_ been acting kind of distant and weird but…

How do you go about asking something if they’re interested in you?

“That’s all right,” he laughed, patting her shoulder. “Worst case you ask. All right.” He turned to his nephew and hit him in the shoulder. “Go easy on her, Bren.”

“No promises.” He popped the end of his hoodie’s drawstring in his mouth and bit down on this. “Ready, Anna?”

“I… I guess so!”

He started up the game, and Anna was beyond overwhelmed. It wasn’t like she hadn’t played video games before… but they mostly consisted of an assortment of Mario games. Not… _this_ chaos. There were too many people, she didn’t know who was on what team, who she should be shooting and who she should be avoiding…

After being killed for the fifth time, Anna groaned and handed the controller over to Kristoff. “I’m good, thanks,” she mumbled with a small laugh, before slipping off the couch, onto the floor, and crawling over to the toddler who was still distracting himself with toy trains.

Kristoff flushed red as he watched her crawl, unable to tear his eyes away from the plump roundness of her behind. It _really_ didn’t help that he had already seen it basically bare… He continued to watch, as she started talking to Brennan, bottom still up as she leaned on her forearms to get down to his level.

“... stoff!”

“What?” he snapped, turning to look at Jason. “S-sorry, bud.”

Shrugging, Jason gestured over to the little girl who was digging through one of the bags they had brought with them. “I think Katie wants to do tea now.”

Kristoff couldn’t help but groan, and ran a hand over his face. “Please don’t make me wear the tiara this time, Katie…” He didn’t have much hope that she would let him get away with _not_ wearing the tiara, but it was at least worth a shot to ask. But, honestly, he _really_ didn’t want to wear one in front of Anna.

She stood up tall and smiled brightly. “You know that _everyone_ at the tea party has to wear one, Krissy!”

That had caught Anna’s attention, and she rolled onto her side in order to glance up at the commotion. “Tea party, huh?” She felt a smile stretching her cheeks and rested her arms across her knees. “I haven’t had a tea party since I was, like, eight!”

“Yesss!” Katie ran over to Anna and started tugging on her hands. “I’m so happy you are here! Shawna never likes to come to my parties. It’s always just me an’ Brennan an’ Krissy an’ my dolls! But now I have another princess to come!”

Katie started running back and forth between the bag and the coffee table, setting up all of the places she thought necessary, giggling excitedly when she got to set one extra place for Anna.

Snickering, Anna stood up and picked Brennan up before walking towards the table with the teapot and cups set up, and placed him down beside the table, before going to sit.

“Not there!!” Grabbing her hands, Katie led her over towards Kristoff, and sat her down right beside him. “Krissy gets to sit next to the real princess!”

Anna laughed. “ _Real_ princess?”

As she was setting out her favorite cookies and a bowl of ‘sugar cubes’, when she turned back to face the older pair. “Of course! You’re pretty and nice and older like the Disney princesses… so you _have_ to be a princess! It’s especially the pretty part. You’re _really_ pretty.” She tapped on Kristoff’s knee and snickered. “Don’t you think so, Krissy? Isn’t she pretty?”

Kristoff coughed and dropped his gaze to the table, straightening up the cup in front of him. “Uh… I… No I… I… I mean, of course she is… b-but…”

“But?” Anna questioned, resting her chin in her palm.

“N-no not but… You’re… Um…” His face was bright red, and Anna burst out laughing, patting his back.

“It’s fine, Kris. Don’t worry.”

When Katie finished seating all of her dolls around the table and setting the table up to her liking, she reached back into the bag, and pulled out a whole assortment of tiaras. She placed the small ones on top of her dolls, before holding out the remaining four. “Pick your favorite!”

Anna picked out a big and gaudy one, placing it on top of her head, and placed her hands under her chin. “How does it look, Katie?”

“Beautiful!! You’re so pretty, Anna!”

Glancing over to Kristoff, Anna smiled and cocked an eyebrow. “So?”

“... Cute.” Stupidly cute. So cute he wanted to pick her up and kiss her and not let her go. How could one person be so attractive _and_ adorable at the same time?

Katie bounced in front of him, smiling from ear to ear. “Your turn!!”

Kristoff groaned, and pulled out the least gaudy of the bunch, rolling his eyes. “Do I really have to?”

“Yes!” He was pretty sure all of the five people in the room shouted that in unison.

“Fiiiine,” he whined, picking the simplest one she had, placing it on top of his head, and dropping his face into his hands when he heard Shawna snickering. He was one hundred percent sure that she had taken pictures, so he continued to do his best to hide his face. “I hate this.”

“Aww.” Anna covered her snickering mouth with her hands, and slowly pulled out her phone, snapping a quick picture. “I think you look _beautiful_.”

“Don’t you dare.”

After about five more minutes of ridicule, Katie finally said it was okay for him to take it off, and started pouring ‘tea’ for all of them. They sat and sipped at their ‘drinks’, Katie jumping around and cheering, making her dolls drink and eat, as everyone else snacked on little cookies.

“You really do look cute in that tiara, Anna.”

Anna blushed, tucking a bit of hair behind her ear. “Thanks…” Taking a moment to laugh to herself, she leaned over and poked his shoulder. “You did too, by the way.”

Groaning, Kristoff ran a hand through his hair and rested his cheek against his fist. “Hilarious. God…” He was red and warm, shrugging under her gaze. “Don’t you _dare_ do anything with that picture, Freckles.”

“Oh, Kristoff… you _know_ I’m sharing it with Elsa.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone, flipping to the picture in her gallery. “Look how _cute_ you look! Such a pretty pretty princess!”

He tried to snatch the phone from her hands, grunting as she moved her hand out of his reach and started giggling. “ _Give it to me_ ,” he growled, leaning closer to her, and groaning again as she moved it once more. “You’re really trying to get to me, aren’t you?”

Anna laughed some more, leaning backwards just a little more every time he reached over her… until he wound up toppling her over, his hands on either side of her head, and his knees on either side of her hips.

 _Oh_.

Her face was bright red, swallowing hard when his fingers brushed over hers to grab her phone. She watched with curious eyes as he flipped through the phone, glancing up at the screen from under his bangs.

“Aaaand… deleted.”

Pouting, Anna tapped at his nose, blowing a little raspberry. “Party pooper.”

He laughed, slipping her phone back into her pocket, and suddenly grunted when he felt a new weight on his back.

“Tackle pile on Kris!” Jason screamed, throwing his body over the blonde’s back.

“Wait no --”

“Eeee!” Katie screamed hopping up and over Jason, knocking Kristoff down onto his elbows, and just a little closer to Anna.

“H-hey guys, careful…” Kristoff started leaning in one direction, hoping that the kids would just easily slide off of his back. “Come on, we can wrestle once Anna isn’t in danger of getting hurt, okay?”

“Awww,” they both complained, standing up and moving back to the couch.

Standing, Kristoff reached down to help Anna to her feet, watching as she smoothed down her braids and heaved a relieved sigh.

“Phew… Is this how your babysitting always is?”

He laughed. “Pretty much, yeah. Sometimes we play football… and that’s just insane.” He grabbed her cheeks and glanced over her face. “You okay?”

Blushing, Anna grabbed his hands off of her face, and held them between her own. “Yeah, I’m fine. Really…”

“Good.”

Shawna sighed and put her phone down in her lap. “Wanna watch a movie or something?”

Kristoff gasped, throwing his hands up in the air, making Anna chuckle. “She speaks!”

“Shut uuuup!”

Kristoff and Anna sat down on the couch, smiling when Brennan crawled into Anna’s lap, and waited patiently for the kids to pick out a movie to watch.

“So really,” Anna started again, laughing and patting a hand against his knee. “It’s _always_ like this?” She couldn’t believe that! Today was just showing her all knew sides of Kristoff that she couldn’t have even imagined. Not only was he _clean_ , but he was _great_ with kids.

He smiled, placing his hand on top of hers, and nodded. “Pretty much. They can drive me a little crazy, sometimes…” He squeezed her hand a little bit, running his thumb across the back of her hand. “But I like having you here.”

Biting at her lip, Anna leaned in a little closer. “... I like being here.”

They both felt it, a sudden magnetism between them, pulling them just a little closer, so close, still, that they could feel the heat radiating between them.

“You do?”

“... Yes…”

Brennan reached up and squished Anna’s cheeks, before giggling and pulling her away from Kristoff. He tugged lightly at her braid again, smiling and turning around on her lap.

“You’re a quiet little boy, aren’t you?”

Brennan nodded, turning to face the television as the Pixar lamp started bouncing across the screen.

Kristoff leaned back against the cushions, and couldn’t stop jiggling his knee. It was probably for the best that he didn’t kiss her, anyway. Maybe he was reading completely too far into this, and she wasn’t interested at all. Maybe he was just being _stupid_.

The movie started playing, and all the were kids piled up on the couch and the armchair, cuddled up and laughing along with the movie. As time went on, Anna had wound up leaning against Kristoff’s shoulder, Brennan asleep in her lap, and Kristoff resting his cheek on top of her head.

He took a moment to look around, taking in all of his surroundings. Something felt so right here. Anna resting on his shoulder, with a toddler in her lap, and other kids sprawled out around the room. It wasn’t like he was thinking that he _wanted_ kids with Anna… but…

He hadn’t felt this possibility since…

Since Sam.

Kristoff felt the nausea from guilt churning in his stomach, and tried his best to just focus on the movie and nothing else.


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand here's part two of that ridiculously long chapter that was split in two.
> 
> Anyway, this fic has officially reached M status. This chapter contains explicit sexual descriptions. If you're not a fan of smut, you can judge where you want to stop. The chapter ends directly after the smut so you won't be missing anything. Read up to where you're comfortable and then just "they had sex" lmao.

By the end of the movie, all of the kids were asleep on his furniture sprawled across the living room, and Kristoff knew there were maybe fifteen minutes left before his mother came to pick them up. Anna had kept her head on his shoulder, petting her hand over the back of the toddler’s head, and nuzzled just a little closer to him.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and whispered “Do you want me to take you home after they leave?”

Biting her lip, Anna shrugged. “I guess?”

There was a firm knock on the door, and Kristoff begrudgingly got off the couch, heading over towards the entrance of his house, and pulled the door open quietly. “Hey, Ma,” he whispered, letting her in and wincing when she started with her version of whispering.

“Ooooh all my babies are sound asleep! You do such a great job with them, Kristoff.” Bulda reached up to squeeze his cheeks and pat his face.

“Ma… Stop!” he groaned, blushing red as Anna giggled from the couch.

Her little titters caught Bulda’s attention, and she spun on her heel to examine the stranger who was holding her grandson. “My oh my! Who have we got here? Well aren’t you just a pretty little thing.” She smacked Kristoff in the arm when he tried to talk. “Why haven’t you told me about this girl? Is she your girlfriend? Baby you haven’t been open to a relationship --”

“Ma!” Kristoff sighed with relief when she stopped talking. “No. Not girlfriend.”

“Oh.” She almost sounded disappointed. “Well, anyway! Don’t be so rude, baby, introduce me!”

Anna hoisted Brennan up a little higher in her arms as she stood, moving over towards Kristoff and his mother. “Hi,” she started, her voice low. “I’m Anna. It’s so great to meet you!”

“Likewise, sweetie!”

Brennan started to fuss, pushing against Anna, until Kristoff came over and plucked him off of her chest, bouncing him up on his shoulder. They exchanged smiles, and Bulda looked curiously between them.

“You can call me Bulda,” she interrupted, amused at how quickly Anna seemed to snap back to reality. “So, Anna… how did you guys meet? I doubt it was through construction…”

“Oh, no. My sister is Elsa? They’re best friends. I just moved here about two months ago, and we’ve just kind of become friends.”

Bulda nodded, and gave Anna a big smile. “Makes sense! I just love that Elsa. She’s such a good friend. And if you’re her sister, I bet you’re just as fantastic.”

Coming back to stand next to the two women after waking up all the kids, Kristoff grinned. “Nah, this one’s pretty lame.”

“Hey!” Anna smacked his arm, and laughed with him, and Bulda couldn’t help the smile creeping up onto her lips.

“Okay kiddos, time to get home to mamas and papas!” The kids all started moving towards the door, slowly and sleepily, one by one giving Kristoff hugs, before they moved out to the car to wait for Bulda to finish talking to her son.

“If you’re coming for dinner tomorrow night, bring this one,” she said, gesturing to Anna. “If she helped you out today, we have to thank her properly!”

Shaking her hands up, Anna blushed. “Oh, no. Please! It’s totally fine. I’m sure all I did was get in the way more than anythi-”

“I won’t hear another word about it!” Bulda interrupted, reaching up to pull Kristoff down to her level and kiss him on his cheeks. “Tell Kristoff what you’d like so he can let me know, okay?” She moved onto Anna, wrapping her arms full around her, and gave her a hug tighter than Anna had ever experienced before.

“See you tomorrow!”

“Bye, Ma.”

And she was gone, the van driving off into the night.

Kristoff turned to Anna with a grin, and shrugged. “So I guess you get to meet the _whole_ family tomorrow…”

Returning his smile, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Sounds like fun.”

A silence fell between them - it had started off fairly comfortable, but grew more awkward the longer it went on, until Kristoff couldn’t take it anymore. “So… Want me to take you home now?”

She bit her lip and rubbed at the back of her head. It was now or never, and she knew if she didn’t ask tonight, she probably never would. Besides, there had been something there before, right? She couldn’t have been imagining that attraction… Right? “Ah… Actually um… So I kind of came here for another reason?”

Kristoff nodded. “I figured.”

“So okay… This is probably going to come out all wrong so just… hear me out, okay?”

“Okay…”

Taking a deep breath, Anna stepped a fraction closer, before twisting her fingers together in front of her stomach, and looking down at her toes. “So I… I kind of… I kind of like you… like… _like_ you… and I know it’s stupid but I… well… Okay so, Hans and I apparently aren’t exclusive and… and like, while I _like_ him I don’t like _love_ him or anything -- well not yet, anyway… if I ever do, I mean --”

She risked one glance up to find his face bright red and contorted into some emotion she couldn’t even recognize. Sighing, she continued. “So he’s dating other people and I guess that means we’re just casually dating and I can date other people too and honestly I’ve never stopped thinking about how you kissed me and I liked sleeping with you and I really just can be myself around you and I wanted to know if you kind of maybe wanted to try going out with me on like a _date_ maybe possibly?”

Kristoff was completely still, face red and unable to form any sort of words. He certainly _wanted_ to say yes, but he could feel all of that guilt swirling in his stomach again. But what about _her_ , he heard them yelling at him through the back of his mind. What about _Sam_.

And not to mention, Anna may have just been doing this to make Hans jealous. What if she was just using him for selfish reasons? Then wouldn’t he just get hurt _later_? He certainly _wanted_ to say yes… every fiber of his being wanted her and to hold her and be _with_ her. But could he take it? What if…

Apparently he had been silent for too long, because Anna was almost vermillion as she stepped past him and mumbled out “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked that was just stupid I’m _stupid_.”

“W-wait, Anna, hang on…” He turned on his heel to grab her arm, stopping her from running out the door. “L-look I just… Um…”

Anna was trembling in his grasp, obviously embarrassed and upset, and kept her eyes down.

“I… I just… there’s a _lot_ you don’t know and I just…”

He didn’t want to share her.

“I…”

But he started to think that might be the only way he even had a _chance_.

“Yes.”

Turning slowly to look back at him, Anna sniffled. “Yes?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Definitely.”

A smile started to spread on her cheeks, and she all but leaped forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and tugging him closer to the ground. Her nose was buried in the crook of his neck, muffling her words. “Really? Like… for real, really?”

Kristoff was stiff for a moment, before relaxing and wrapping his arms around her waist. “Really, Anna. For real. Yes.” He sighed contentedly as her fingers started playing with the hair on the back of his neck.

Doing his best to ignore the screaming in his head, he pulled her just a fraction closer. He had done everything in his power to fight off his feelings for Anna… but now… He decided he was going to do everything in his power to fight _for_ her. He didn’t trust Hans. And he wasn’t going to lose Anna like he lost Sam.

It wasn’t going to happen.

Kristoff pulled back from her, keeping his hands on her waist, and took a deep breath. “Can I kiss you?”

Her nodding was enthusiastic, and he almost immediately lifted his hands to her jaw, pressing forward until he met her lips with his own. This felt so incredibly different from the last one, as she smiled against his mouth and laughed as he pulled away, kissing the corners of her mouth.

It was simple and chaste, as he finished with a warm kiss against her forehead.

“So…” Kristoff wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close against his chest. “... Do you want me to take you home?”

Holding him closer, Anna shook her head against him. “Nope.”

“What do you wanna do?”

She pulled away and bounced on her toes, clenching her hands under her chin. “I want to…” Her eyes moved to the television, catching sight of a familiar game. “... kick your butt in Mario Kart.”

He couldn’t help but laugh, crossing his arms over his chest. “You wish, Red.”

\----

After he had gotten it set up, Kristoff went to sit beside his excitedly bouncing… girlfriend? No… Not that, yet. He looked at her as she smiled brightly back at him, bouncing her bottom on her sock-clad feet squished between her and the couch. God, she was cute…

He wanted to share her for as little time as possible.

“Come on, Bjorgman! Let’s go! Or are you _scared_ to get your butt kicked by a _girl_?”

He laughed and shoved her, clenching his stomach as she fell onto her side and scrambled up into a sitting position. Settling down as she glared at him and punched his arm, Kristoff turned back to the television. “All right, Anna…” He smirked, side eying her. “I’m sure you know that the _true_ test of skill can only be found on Rainbow Road, right?”

“Of course.”

“Best two out of three?”

Nodding, Anna lifted the controller up to her chin, and stuck her tongue out, concentrating. “Sounds good.”

“Ready?”

The game started, and things went smoothly for the first round. Just playful banter, a little shoving, and Kristoff getting totally distracted by her licking and biting at her lips.

“Ha! Told you! I am the best at this game!” Anna was gloating, standing up on the couch and dancing some silly choreography, that was obviously a not-so-well practiced victory dance.

Reaching up to tug on her shirt and pull her back down on the couch next to him, Kristoff glowered at her. “Not for long.”

He lost round one.

He wasn’t going to lose the second.

It got a little more intense as they raced around the track for a second time. Anna had started reaching over to knock the controller out of his hands whenever she had run off the track, and Kristoff had started to distract her by saying Sven was doing adorable things over on that side of the room (to which Sven always just looked at them confused, and huffed at them before going back to sleep).

Kristoff rose his hands in victory, letting out a loud cheer, until he saw Anna pouting next to him. Then he felt bad. “... One more round.”

She took in a deep breath, screamed “Yeah!!” and sat forward on the couch, waiting for him to start the final round.

The first lap had gone fine, and Anna was even winning, until she got turned around and fell off the track, letting Kristoff pass her. He couldn’t help but laugh as she dropped her controller in defeat.

“Oh, come on. You can still win! It’ll be tough…” He finished with a wink, glancing up at her as she moved on the couch. Until he realized that she was crawling towards him… Her hand pressed down on the controller, forcing it out of his hands and onto the ground as she swung her leg over his lap, sitting up on her knees in front of him.

“H-hey…”

Anna didn’t say a word, just leaned forward and slanted her lips over his, pulling a groan from his throat as she nipped at his lips.

Kristoff lifted his hands to grasp at her hips and back, running fingers over the fabric of her sweater, and getting entirely lost in the taste of her mouth. They had been here before… but everything felt different this time. Like he was _allowed_ to do this. And this time, he liked her a _lot_ better than he had last time.

The timer signifying the end of the match started chiming, alerting both of them to pull away and stare at the screen.

“... So… who won?” Anna asked, turning back to face him, face red.

He couldn’t help himself. He had wanted to last time, and he wanted to this time. Standing and wrapping her legs around his hips, Kristoff kissed her full on the lips again. “Me.”

Everything moved so quickly then. She pulled his shirt over his head and bared his broad chest and shoulders to her, and he grabbed firmly at her ass and walked back in the house to his bedroom, mouths still moving fervently together. When she shifted on his hips to tug her sweater up and off, Anna had managed to knock a lamp in his den over. Kristoff laughed and shook his head, told her not to worry, before latching his lips onto her throat and pressing her back up against the wall of his hallway.

Anna scolded herself for a brief moment. She had promised herself when she moved here that she wouldn’t go hopping into bed with just _anyone_ … She had wanted to stop doing this…

But his hand slipped under the waistband of her jeans, ghosting over her center, and she gasped and clung tighter to his shoulders, turning her head to catch his lips again.

Kristoff wasn’t just _anyone_.

Using her hands to push off the wall, she motioned backwards with her head, smiling into his kiss when he nodded and continued towards the bedroom. He wanted this as much as she did, and Anna was more than ecstatic.

She felt his grip loosen before she hit the mattress, and all of the sudden his fingers were under her jeans again, pulling them down and off, leaving her in just her bra and panties, while he crawled over her, straddling her hips with his knees.

Kristoff faltered for a moment, eyes scanning over her body and darkening with lust. How could he have gotten this lucky? He must be dreaming… He was _positive_ that he _was_ …

Until her hands grabbed his wrists and led his palms to lay flat over her lace covered breasts.

“A… Anna…” His cheeks flushed red, and he realized that he just had _no_ idea what he was doing. None. At all. Whatsoever. His mind was racing. It had been _so long_ and he was just a kid and Anna was so beautiful and delicate and _sexy beyond belief_ and oh god what was he doing?

Her smile was soft and sweet, as she laid her hands on top of his and helped him start to knead his fingers over the soft skin peeking out over top of the lace. “Touch me, Kristoff.”

He could feel himself growing harder as he watched her lips move, felt her run her fingers up the back of his hands to his wrists, finally settling on his forearms. Swallowing hard, he moved his hands down to her ribs letting the pads of his fingers press up against the bottom of her bra. How could someone with such a sweet smile make him ravenous with lust?

“Where?”

Leaning up to wrap a hand around the back of his neck and kiss him deeply, Anna used her free hand to lead his around her back, and he almost immediately began fumbling with the clasp. When it finally came undone, Kristoff smiled against her lips and threw the piece of cloth straight across the room.

His question went unanswered, but somehow he just knew. It was Anna… and he knew.

He laid her back down, slowly, as he moved his mouth from her lips, leaving a trail of warm, wet kisses down her jaw, neck, chest… settling over one of her stiff nipples. She groaned, pressing her chest up into him, and he didn’t want to wait any more.

Sliding his hands down her sides and resting on her hips, Kristoff continued his trail down over her stomach, her hipbones, the tops of her thighs… almost moaning when she parted them for him, forcing his hands to move to hold firm to the outside of her legs.

His mind was racing, questions ranging from _what if I screw this up_ all the way to _what if I get too attached_ were screaming at him, as he worked up the courage to kiss her inner thigh.

“K-Kristoff…” Anna’s voice was shaking, and she moved her foot to press against his denim clad leg. She couldn’t help the bright flush that spread from her cheeks down her neck, as she glanced down at him between her legs. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t even had to _ask_ …

Hans… Well Hans barely warmed her up, honestly.

His fingers slipped under the flimsy fabric of her panties, and tugged them over her hips and thighs, dropping them on the floor beside the bed as soon as they cleared her toes. “I’m…” He licked his lips, glancing up at her for just a moment, blushing deeper. “I’m a bit rusty at this…” he breathed, admiring the way she glistened, already so _ready_ … because of _him_ …

“Y-you don’t… h-have to…” She started sitting up.

Pressing a firm palm to her stomach, Kristoff couldn’t stop the mischievous grin that started on his lips as he threw her legs up over his shoulders, and watched her lay back, eyes half lidded and lip caught between her teeth. She was so beautiful…

He laid his mouth flat against the whole of her, moving up with one long, languid stroke of his tongue from her base over her clit. Kristoff drank up her small, high pitched moan, and continued onward -- sucking, flicking, licking -- giving attention to everything that made her clench his hair tighter between her fingers and buck her hips up against his mouth.

Anna was weak, she realized, as he pulled away and she tried to move her hips to find him. “Kris… Kris, _please_ …” Suddenly, his fingers found her, and she had to bite her lip to keep herself from crying out.

He may have been clumsy and not as well practiced as some of her previous partners, but he observed her, and made changes based on how she reacted and, _oh_ , Anna felt herself teetering on the edge until he stroked in just a certain way… She came hard against his hand, throwing her hands down against the bed, scrambling for purchase.

Floating down from her high, Anna watched with hitched breath as he crawled back over her, his mouth shining with what was left of her on his skin, and flushed even deeper. Kristoff kissed her and she grimaced slightly at the taste of herself, but continued to lift her hands to his still remaining jeans, and unclasped them as quickly as she could.

He laughed as she shoved downward on his pants and underwear, only managing to get them below his behind with her short arms, and continued kissing her as he helped release himself from his restraining clothes. Kristoff sighed into her mouth with relief as the pressure of his hard cock against his pants was removed.

“More?” he mumbled, wrapping his arms tightly around her and flipping her up on top of him, smiling brightly as she let out a small squeal and a giggle.

Anna used her feet to push his pants the rest of the way off of his legs, shuddering when she realized just _what it was_ she felt pinned between them. “... Yes.”

She forced a hand between their stomachs, touching gently at his hard cock, and admired how it twitched and how he sighed. And when she ran her fingers down his length, she was shocked at the size of him…

Though based on his height and broadness, she shouldn’t have been _that_ surprised.

Kristoff walked his fingers up her sides before pressing them firmly against her breasts again, freezing when she lifted up from him, grasped his shaft firmly in one hand, and lowered herself onto him.

“F- _fuck_ …”

Rocking her hips just a few times to gauge his reaction, Anna bit at her lip and leaned forwards to give him one soft kiss, just on the corner of his mouth. He had satisfied her… So she was about to take care of him.

She was a minx, moving skillfully against him, and Kristoff didn’t think he would manage to last all that long. He grasped at her hips, her thighs, her hands… _anything_ that might ground him and stop him from collapsing underneath her within just a few moments.

He realized quickly that it was no use as she knew exactly how to move, and exactly what to twist and press and… Her name was rolling over his tongue as he reached his climax, hands grabbing her shoulders and pulling her down, flush against his chest, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, shaking and burying his nose into the crook of her neck.

Kristoff hadn’t realized just exactly how much he had missed this… missed… being with someone - specifically someone who he had some sort of _feelings_ for.

It wasn’t like he had been with anyone since Sam… but…

Pressing his mouth against her skin as she lifted herself off of him, Kristoff tilted his chin so he could catch her lips in one more kiss before she pulled away.

“You’re amazing, Anna.”

“... Not too bad yourself, Bjorgman…”


	15. Chapter 14

There was a light snoring by his jaw, and a mess of red tangles on the pillow beside him, all coming from the warm body that was pressed up against his side. Anna had fallen asleep pretty immediately after - he was sure she was simply exhausted from watching the kids, and… well, everything that came after - but Kristoff hadn’t been able to fall asleep. His mind just kept running over the same thoughts over and over.

What was he doing? He hadn’t been with anyone for over five years. And, yeah, he  _really_  liked Anna, but… to just jump into bed with her? Wasn’t that crossing some sort of line? Especially since she was seeing Hans, too?

Had… Had she slept with  _Hans_?

And if she had, how did he compare?

Anna snorted, shifting slightly and snuggling in tighter against him, and Kristoff tensed under her hands, fingers curling in the hair on his chest. He wasn’t ready to have whatever talk they would inevitably be having when she woke up, and he stayed stark still until she stopped moving. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kristoff flexed his hand, to find that it had fallen asleep under her shoulders.

He couldn’t help the little groan that vibrated in his throat at the feeling of pins and needles in his fingertips, knowing that if he even so much as moved his hand he ran the risk of waking her up. He had to be quiet… quiet…

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Kristoff let his mind wander again, tilting his head to press his cheek against her forehead.

He could almost hear the taunting voices of his past.

_No one you meet will ever compare to her._

_How would she feel knowing you just_ _ **forgot**_   _her?_

Tightening his arm around Anna, pulling her closer, Kristoff felt a lump in his throat, and did his best to bite it back. He knew he couldn’t… he couldn’t stop his life. He had put it on hold for five years, and now he met someone who he couldn’t hold back his feelings for. What else could he do?

He had kissed her before now, yeah… But that didn’t mean anything. That wasn’t  _moving on_.

Admitting his feelings for her and deciding to try a relationship with her?

 _That_  was moving on.

Giving up and slowly pulling his arm out from under her, he winced when Anna mumbled a bit of nonsense, and her blue eyes fluttered open. She smiled at him and he felt his stomach flip. He wanted to believe in the best, he wanted to believe she really wanted  _him_ …

Her eyes were half lidded with sleep, but bright and oh so happy beneath her lashes. “... Hi…”

Kristoff felt his shoulders slump. He  _needed_ to be sure she wasn’t just using him to get to Hans.

“Hey…”

He couldn’t take it.

Anna lifted her head, crawling just a little higher up his chest and planted a firm kiss on his lips, melting into him, a small noise of contentment bubbling up from her throat.

Kristoff couldn’t help but lift a hand to cup the back of her head, smiling against her mouth, all of his negative thoughts dissipating, his head being consumed with  _Anna, Anna, Anna_.

She pulled away and pressed her nose against his jaw, mumbling sleepily against his skin. “What time is it?”

“About midnight,” he yawned, looking towards the clock on his end table. “Do you want me to take you home?” Kristoff almost prayed she said no. He could feel her humming against his skin, contemplating in her head.

“Whatever you want,” she started, lifting her hand to press it against his shoulder, admiring the breadth of it. “It’s your house.” Dragging her fingers across his skin, Anna did her best to distract him from the blush in her cheeks and the worrying of her bottom lip. She wanted to stay, but she was used to being kicked out.

It wouldn’t hurt if he did.

… Right?

The hand that was pressed to the back of her head started moving, stroking softly over her mass of red hair, as his other arm came to circle around her waist. Would it be weird to spend the night together? Kristoff couldn’t shake this feeling, this paranoia…

“Anna…” He breathed, tensing when she glanced up at him.

 _Don’t say it_.

“Can I ask you something?”

She nodded against his neck before lifting her head to glance up at him. “Of course.”

“Are you…” Say anything else, he begged his mouth,  _please_.

Her smile and oh so warm, welcoming eyes, drew it out of him.

“You’re not… using me, are you? To…” He gulped as she pushed up to hover over him. “... To get to Hans… Right?”

A silence fell between them which, to Kristoff, felt like it lasted for hours. He watched carefully as she sat up higher, as she pulled her hair over her shoulder, as her smile dropped into something else. Something… sad.

“What?”

Kristoff groaned and pressed his palm against his eye before running his hand down his face. “Look… I… I know how much you  _like him_ and I just --”

Waving a hand between them, Anna cut him off. “No. No… What kind of person do you think I am, Kristoff?” Her eyebrows were knit together with distress, blue eyes searching his as he moved to sit up underneath her.

“What?” he balked, sitting up and pushing her up onto her knees, blushing slightly as she pulled the blankets around her chest to cover herself. “Anna, I just…”

“I  _like_  you, Kristoff.” She pulled the blanket tighter around her, covering her bare thighs. “I like him  _too_ , but… I’m not just  _using_  you to make him jealous.” His eyes turned down to her still exposed knee, and Anna relaxed slightly when his fingers started tracing lines between her freckles, comforted. “Do you believe me?”

Kristoff shrugged slightly, frowning. It was no secret that he didn’t trust people easily but… Anna…? She, he believed.

Mostly.

He nodded, and she frowned, running her hand up from his wrist to his shoulder, knowing that he wasn’t being fully truthful. “What do you want me to do to prove it to you?”

Laughing, Kristoff shook his head. “Stop dating him, maybe?”

Anna smacked his arm and smirked. “Well that’s not fair.”

“Yeah, why would you give up sideburns for me, right?” His voice held a hint of annoyance, but he smiled at her as if it were a joke.

“... Kristoff…”

Offering her a smile and cupping her cheek in his hand, Kristoff let out a deep breath. “No, I know. It’s fine. I understand.” When she barely smiled, he bent forward to kiss her, lips moving firmly against hers until she was breathless.

“Tomorrow…” He pulled back, locking eyes with her as Anna tried to catch her breath. “Come to dinner with me at my ma’s…”

Anna let out a small laugh, pressing her forehead against his. “A date at your mother’s. How romantic.”

“Shut it, Freckles.” A smile was toying at his lips as he kissed her again. “Sorry I can’t take you out dancing on a boat.”

“It wasn’t dancing!”

“Whatever it was…” A silence fell between them again as glared and he smirked at her in response. “So you wanna go?”

Anna leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth before sitting back on her heels, nodding. “Of course I do.”

“Good. ‘Cause if you said no, you’d be dealing with my Ma. And  _she’s_  a force to be reckoned with.”

Kristoff watched her as she burst out laughing, admiring the pink hue of her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes as her laughter rolled out from her lips, and he couldn’t help himself. He reached forward, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled the giggling red head back into the bed with him, resting her head in the crook of his neck.

He may not have had her all to himself right now… But he’d try his damned hardest to convince her that he was the right choice. He’d do anything he could, as much as she’d let him.

Snuggling in closer and taking a deep breath, Anna smiled against his skin, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Can you promise me one thing?” he asked, planting another kiss against her forehead. When she nodded, he took a heavy breath and continued. “As soon as you know… and I mean… the  _second_  you know… Know whether you want me or him… Tell me. I don’t care if it’s in his or my favor… I just… I need to know as soon as you know, okay?”

A moment passed where Kristoff couldn’t even imagine what was going through her head. He almost started panicking, until he felt her head nod and felt the small movement of her lips as she mumbled a quiet “okay…”

“Good…”

Anna dragged her hand from his shoulder to his chest again, drawing small swirls with the pads of her fingertips. They stayed in complete silence for a while, but neither was particularly sure if it was comfortable or not. Kristoff chose to break the silence first.

“Anna?”

“Hmm?”

“You never answered my first question.”

She shifted against him, but didn’t make a noise.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

Silence. Then a meek, barely audible “...no.”

Reaching down to her hips, where all of the blankets had bunched up, Kristoff yanked them up and over his shoulders, partially covering Anna’s face. She had hollered in protest, pushing the sheets down before shimmying up his torso, locking her eyes with his.

Kristoff couldn’t help but smile and kiss her again. “Get some sleep.”

“See you in the morning,” she mumbled, cuddling into his embrace.

\----

Kristoff had woken up long before Anna, as he was plenty used to being up early for construction, and couldn’t help but laugh at how she stretched out across the whole bed as soon as he left it. He was fairly certain that she had clung to him the whole night, and was almost positive that she would remain latched onto him as he climbed out of the bed.

It was rather lucky that she hadn’t.

He was sitting in the kitchen, having a cup of coffee, when his phone rang. Glancing down at the caller ID, Kristoff saw his best friend’s face, and promptly scrambled to grab his phone, to be greeted by the frantic voice of Elsa.

“Kristoff? Where have you been I’ve been calling since last night I haven’t heard from Anna do you know where she is she always tells me when she’s staying out and I don’t know Hans’ number and she hasn’t answered her phone and --”

“Whoa, whoa blondie, don’t go crazy on me,” Kristoff laughed, placing down his mug. “Anna is fine. She’s here.”

“She’s  _what_?”

“She fell asleep here.” He couldn’t help but blush profusely at the memory of the previous night. “She came over to talk to me about something and, you know, on Wednesdays I babysit and Thursdays I don’t work, so…” He tapped at the edge of his mug. “I just let her crash here.”

He heard Elsa scoff and could practically picture her standing there, her back ramrod straight, hand on her hip and toe tapping against the ground impatiently. “And why did no one think to tell me that my sister wasn’t coming home?”

“Look, Elsa…” Jumping when he heard a loud thump from his bedroom, Kristoff almost burst out laughing when he heard some loud but slurred profanities come through the door. “We just kind of passed out. I’m sorry, but she’s fine, I promise.”

“... Fine. Let me know next time, okay?”

“You got it, boss.”

Kristoff hung up his phone just in time to look up and see a very frazzled Anna appear from the hallway, clad only in one of his sweaters, completely bare from her mid-thigh down. “... Morning.”

“The legs of your bed frame stick out way too far,” she mumbled, flopping down into the seat across from him at the table.

“... Did you stub your toe?”

“... Yes.”

Anna pouted when he laughed, and pulled her feet up onto the chair next to her bottom. “It’s cold in here.”

“Well it’s September in Alaska… You’re not down south anymore, Anna.” He met her glare, and grinned. “You’ll get used to it.”

He felt terrible watching her shiver on the wooden chair, and lifted a hand to the back of his head, rubbing nervously. “You want pants or something? That’d probably help.”

Shaking her head, Anna frowned. “Nah, it’s okay. I had like twenty or so missed calls from Elsa so… I should probably get home…”

“Yeah,” Kristoff dropped his hand back to the table. “Yeah, she just called me a few minutes ago in a panic. So that’s probably a good idea. I told her you were fine, but… well, you know Elsa.” Watching Anna nod, he clenched his jaw. Could he admit that he didn’t want her to go? Would that be weird? All he wanted was to crawl back into bed with her and kiss her everywhere he could reach.

Anna stood suddenly, stretched her arms over her head, and turned back towards his bedroom. “Yeah… I’m gonna go get dressed. Before she calls a swat team.” She only managed a few steps before she froze, spun on her heel, and bit her lip as she looked back at Kristoff. “You… You didn’t tell her what happened, right?”

“Did I tell your older sister who is crazy protective of you that we slept together?” He smiled when she sighed with relief. “Of course not. I figure you can tell her when you think the time is right.”

Blue eyes widened as her face turned red, and Anna took in a deep breath as she walked back towards the bedroom to change quickly, Kristoff’s laughter growing behind her.

\----

They were headed back within the hour, seated comfortably and quietly in the truck, with Sven panting between them, glancing back and forth between their red and smiling faces. After Anna had gone back into his room, Kristoff had swallowed his nerves and followed her, hoisting her up onto his hips before tumbling back into the bed for a final short round, knowing that soon enough he would have to drop her off at home with Elsa, and be a perfect gentleman the next time he saw her.

Pulling up outside the apartment, Kristoff put his truck in park before turning to face her. “So… I’ll pick you up at six? And ask Elsa if she wants to come, too.”

Anna nodded and reached for the handle of the door, pausing to glance up at Kristoff when he coughed. “... I should tell her as soon as possible, right?”

“... Yeah.” He wanted to be able to touch her and kiss her in front of Elsa.

Nodding, she leaned over Sven to plant a chaste kiss on his lips, giggling as the dog leaned up to lick at their chins, and quickly opened the door. “All right, I’ll tell her. And I’ll see you later.” Anna hopped out of the truck and made her way up the sidewalk to the entrance as hastily as she could manage, waving back to him before disappearing up the stairwell.

Kristoff’s face only grew redder as he watched her go, hair bouncing loose around her shoulders and her eyes shining brightly back at him when she waved.

He… He got her, somehow. She may not have been entirely his yet, but he was so close. He could win her. He  _knew_  he could.

But… There was something he had to do, first.

Kristoff pulled out of his spot, and drove towards the edge of town.

\----

Anna skipped up the stairs and burst through the door of her apartment with a loud and sing song “I’m hooooooome!” She kicked off her shoes and ran down the hallway to her sister’s room, where she was sure Elsa was cooped up, at her desk with her headphones in. Pushing the door open and jumping in, she saw her sister exactly where she expected her, and darted forwards, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

Elsa screamed and spun around in her chair, smacking at the air and catching Anna’s shoulder, before relaxing when she laid her eyes on her laughing sister. She tugged the headphones off her ears and slapped purposely at Anna, hollering a panicked “why did you do that?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” the redhead mumbled between chuckles, calming when her sister continued to glare at her. “I couldn’t resist!”

Sighing and standing up, Elsa threw her arms around her little sister, and let out a small laugh. “Don’t do that again, Anna.” She pushed her back to arms length and took in a deep breath. “Call me next time you stay somewhere, okay?”

“All right,  _mom_.”

They both laughed before parting, and Elsa cocked an eyebrow towards her sister. “So… spending the night with Kristoff, huh? What happened there?”

“Oh yeah well that’s kind of a funny story…”

“Ha ha funny or I’m going to slap you funny?”

Anna pouted and promptly bit at her bottom lip, muttering an almost inaudible “probably slap me funny…” When she saw Elsa’s expression she elaborated. “So… we’re kind of… dating? Kind of?”

Elsa looked like she was trying to fight back excitement, forcing out “kind of?”, but her smile gave her away.

Twisting on her heels, Anna had to bite back her smile. “Well… we just kind of admitted that there was a little something there and decided to see what would happen if we tried, you know? And then… well… things happened, and here we are.”

“Here we are.” Elsa was all smiles and little giggles as she urged her sister for more information. “So… no more Hans?”

“Ah… oh.” Twisting her fingers in front of her chest, Anna let out a heavy breath. “No, I’m still seeing Hans…” At her sister’s incredulous stare, she continued. “I’m… seeing both of them.” Sitting back on the bed, she shrugged her shoulders. “I caught Hans seeing some other girl, and he told me that we were just casually dating… not exclusive.”

“Then why didn’t you --”

“So I thought oh hey maybe I can do it too, right? So I went to Kristoff and we hung out all day with his nieces and nephews…” She paused for a breath, gesturing vaguely with her hands. “And then I just kind of  _asked_  him if he wanted to kind of go on a date even if it was casually… and he said yeah so I guess we’re kind of dating… I guess I’m dating both of them really.”

Elsa frowned, furrowing her eyebrows together, and sat back at her desk. “Is that a good idea?”

“I’m gonna break it off with one of them as soon as I know. Kris and I talked about it.”

“Okay…”

There was a tense silence between them as Anna tapped her toes against the ground, looking around the room nervously. Elsa had picked up her pen and was scribbling notes down again in order to distract herself from the awkwardness radiating from her sister.

“So…” Anna breathed, standing up and glancing towards the doorway. “Kristoff’s Ma invited us both over for dinner tonight, if you want to come. He’s picking us up at six.”

“Sounds great.” Elsa nodded and turned back towards her desk, letting Anna step out of the room effortlessly. She heard the door shut, and dropped her forehead down onto the surface. Should she have said something?

It wasn’t fantastic that Anna was dating two men at once, but if all parties were aware of the situation… was there much harm in it?

\----

Anna shut the door to her sister's bedroom and moved immediately towards the bathroom. A long, hot shower was definitely in order,  _especially_  after that more than awkward run in with her sister.

Was she judging her? Was she unhappy about it?

What did it matter!

Anna turned on the hot water and stepped under it, crossing her arms over her chest with aggravation. She was an adult, and it’s not like Elsa had been around for the beginning of her learning about dating… So why should she care what her big sister thought of her?

She groaned and grabbed at the products lining the shower wall, quickly cleaning up and getting ready for the evening.

\----

Kristoff had driven about thirty minutes outside of the city before he reached his destination. A small church stood next to the parking lot, with a wide open grave yard in the back of it. “Stay here, Sven,” he mumbled, tapping his fingers against the frame of his truck. “Won’t be gone long, all right?”

The dog whimpered, but lay down in the cab, waiting patiently for his best friend to return.

“Good boy.”

Kristoff stepped forward, quietly hopping over the fence into the yard, before making his way to the back of the field. Brown eyes landed on the one marker he was seeking out, and he sat down in front of it, crossing his legs.

“Sam?”

There was no answer… Of course there was no answer… and Kristoff rubbed nervously at his arm.

“I know it’s been a while… I’m sorry.”

He listened for a moment, wishing that maybe there would be some sort of sign that she was listening. He didn’t believe in much, even on his worst days, but he had to hold out hope that she was somewhere, listening… He needed to know that she was okay with this.

Scratching at the back of his head, Kristoff let out a small laugh. “So… You’ll never believe this… I kind of met someone? I think you’d like her. She’s way more talkative than either of us ever have been…” He shrugged. “But she’s funny and sweet…”

The winds started blowing harder above him, and he swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “I know… I know it was all my fault. I know you probably haven’t forgiven me… Hell, I haven’t even forgiven myself.” He dropped his hands into his lap and laughed again. “But… it’s been five years, Sam… and I’m lonely… I’m…”

His voice broke and he had to take a moment to breathe. “Sam, I’m  _so_ lonely… And I  _really_  like her…” Dropping his head, Kristoff could feel it getting harder to swallow. “Sam… I want to try. I want to move on. Please…  _Please_ , can I?”

He waited, and waited… and  _waited_ … and nothing happened. The winds calmed down, the air grew still…

Kristoff let out a laugh filled with relief. “I’m gonna take that as a yes…” He stood, rubbing at the back of his neck, still chuckling to himself. “Last time I asked, a bird attacked me.” Pausing for a moment, he smiled.

“... Thank you.”


	16. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it's been so long - I hope you can forgive me! x

Anna stared down at her phone as it continued to vibrate. He had texted her about twenty times already today, and it was barely four.  Her little chime went off again, and she glanced down to see just a fraction of the _I’m calling_ text that flashed on her screen before it was chased away by the picture of him she had programmed into her phone. Couldn’t he take a hint?

She wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.

Even though she had said she would call him a couple days ago, and hadn’t. But he was the one who suggested they were in an open relationship. She shouldn’t feel guilty about seeing Kristoff - and she felt that she had every right to be irritated with him.

He wanted this first.

Sighing, Anna picked up the phone with an exasperated groan, mumbling a rather short “Yes?”

“ _Anna!”_ Hans sounded relieved. “ _I’m so glad you actually picked up… I was so_ _ **worried**_ _.”_

She rolled her eyes as her nails started tapping impatiently against the table. “Were you? I would have thought you were too busy with another one of your girlfriends to worry about me.”

“ _That’s…”_ He paused for a moment, as if thinking over his words before speaking. “ _That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Can I come pick you up?”_

“Not today.” Anna bit at her lip, her temper starting to cool. “I… have plans tonight.”

“ _Are you seeing someone else?”_

She wasn’t sure if she should tell him yet. But she didn’t have time to think over all of the possibilities and consequences. “Just hanging out with some friends.”

“ _Oh… okay…”_

A silence fell over the phone line for a moment.

“ _Look, Anna…”_ Hans sighed and she heard the distinct sound of his leather shoes clicking on the floor. “ _I… I don’t want to see other people. I went on another date the other day, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”_

Blushing, Anna clenched the phone tighter in her hand. Did he…

Did he mean that?

But she… she couldn’t break it off with Kristoff. She couldn’t. Not after just one day. Anna bit at her lip and began wiping her suddenly clammy hands on her thigh as her thoughts started racing. Kristoff would hate her if she did that to him. And… And she didn’t _want_ to! She wanted to keep seeing Kristoff!

“ _Anna?”_

Realizing she was quiet for far longer than was acceptable, Anna shook herself out of her daze. “I… I’m sorry, what?”

“ _I…”_ He paused again, and she almost thought she heard a scoff. “ _I just want to see you. Is that something you would want?”_

She shrugged, and quickly realized he couldn’t actually _see_ her… “I… I don’t know, yet. I want to keep seeing you… but I need a little time to think about it. Is that okay?”

“ _Of course it is, Anna. You take all the time you need.”_

Anna heard the bedroom door open, and smiled up at her sister before turning her attention back to the phone. “I’ll call you later, okay? I have to go. Okay. Bye.” She hung up quickly and turned her attention back to Elsa.

\---

Hans groaned as he hung up his line, rubbing at the back of his neck. It was clear that she was lying - that she was seeing someone else besides him. Sure, he wasn’t being totally truthful either… But he was better at hiding it.

Oh well.

He liked a challenge.

\---

“Who were you talking to?” Elsa’s interest was piqued by how quickly Anna had hung up, and she moved to grab a glass of water before sitting across the table from her little sister.

Anna let out a held breath before laughing. “Just Hans… He just wanted to see when we could go out again.” She began picking at her cuticles, hoping that her sister didn’t notice the small nervous habit she had developed. “But I told him I’d just call him back later.”

Nodding, Elsa smiled. “Yeah, good plan.” She sat back in her seat before glancing down at her watch. “Kristoff should be here soon. We don’t have to leave right away, but he said he’s finished with his errands.”

A blush coated over Anna’s cheeks as she couldn’t stop a smile from stretching her lips, and Elsa started to laugh.

“You really like him, yeah?”

“... Yeah…”

Leaning forward to rest her chin in her hand, Elsa smirked. “So… what caused the change of heart?”

Anna practically yelped as she sat up in her seat, back ramrod straight, and her blush spread down to her chest and up past her hairline. “W...what do you mean? N-nothing! Nothing caused anything! We…”

Elsa’s cocked eyebrow told Anna that she had pretty quickly figured it out, considering how flushed her little sister was when she got home earlier, plus how she was reacting now. “All right, Anna. Whatever you say.”

The redhead had never been more thankful for a knock on the door than she was in that moment, and she darted out of her chair, hollering a squeaky “I’ll get it!” When she reached the front of the apartment, Anna pulled the door open faster than intended, and stumbled backwards briefly before looking up and locking eyes with Kristoff. “Hi!”

“Hey there.” There was a soft smile on his lips and a wonderful warmth in his eyes, and Kristoff blushed furiously when he noticed Elsa looking over at them both. He glanced back to Anna, shrugging and making a vague gesture. “Does she…?”

“Yep!” Anna nodded, and began bouncing on her toes in front of him. “I told her!”

His smile grew as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her close to his chest. He heard Elsa laughing behind them, and mumbling something basically incoherent to him. Placing a soft kiss against her forehead, Kristoff hesitated when she pulled back.

“Give me a little bit - I just want to change…” She turned to walk towards her bedroom, a little more hastily than was necessary.

“No rush, Anna,” he called down the hallway behind her, before moving to sit down across the table from elsa.

She smiled at him before raising her eyebrows. “So… Dating, huh?”

Rubbing at the back of his head, Kristoff nodded. “Y-yeah…” He laughed and blushed under her gaze before turning his eyes down to the table. “It just kind of happened…”

“Are you happy about it?”

Kristoff’s grin grew, his cheeks hurting from how widely his lips were stretched. “Yeah. I am. It’s been a long time…”

Elsa’s hand came across the table, patting on his gently. She was the only one outside of his family who knew exactly what had happened, and she more than understood how he felt - how it weighed on his shoulders every day. “She’d be happy for you.”

“Yeah…”

They sat in silence, waiting for Anna to finish getting ready, and both looked up when they heard her door open. Kristoff’s blush grew when he took all of her in.

He started at her feet, with simple little black shoes, up to her knee length, high waisted light purple skirt, to the loose, pale pink shirt that was tucked neatly into the waistband of the skirt. The sleeves were poofy and fell down to her knuckles, and the shirt had a thick collar, tied together with a ribbon.

“Y-you…” He stood up abruptly, almost knocking the chair over and fumbling to catch it. “You look…”

Kristoff took a few small steps towards her, before darting forward to close the space between them. His hands caught her cheeks, slowly slipping down to rest below her jaw as his lips slanted over hers in a surprising kiss.

A squeak bubbled out of Anna’s throat, before she smiled against his mouth and melted into him, her hands lifting to rest on his wrists beside her face.

Kristoff had seen her in pajamas, in lazing around the house clothes, in jeans and a sweater, in absolutely _nothing_ … he had even seen her dressed up for dates with Hans. But seeing her all put together and dressed up for _him_ sent butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.

They stayed together until a loud hem came from Elsa, who was standing by the front door. “Shall we?”

\---

It took them about forty minutes to reach the large house outside of the city, and the three of them hopped out of the truck, Anna pausing to stretch her hands up over her head and comment on the drive, and about how she hadn’t realized how far apart everything outside of the city was.

As they walked up to the house, Anna realized just how nervous she was about meeting his family. She was sandwiched between Kristoff and Elsa as Kristoff swung the door open, hollering some form of “Hey! We’re here!” over the loud hustle and bustle of the full home.

Little feet smacked against the floor as the youngest girl came running forward. “Aaaanna!” Katie squealed, jumping up and wrapping her arms around her waist.

Blushing and reaching down to return the hug, Anna was smiling brightly by the time Katie decided to run back towards her cousins. She looked behind her and noticed her sister had moved to stand by two other adults, and was hugging them and laughing.

She sought out Kristoff’s hand, relaxing slightly when he gave her a small squeeze… but immediately started to panic again when she heard two voices scream in unison “KRISSY’S HERE!”, and felt his hand pulled from hers as he disappeared down the hallway, shouting protests.

Anna felt suddenly alone, her heart racing, until she felt her sister’s hand on her shoulder, leading her over to the two people she was talking to before.

“Anna,” Elsa started, gesturing to each of the people in front of her. “This is Maia and that’s Curtis. Two of Kristoff’s siblings…”

Maia cut in, laughing. “Probably the most sane of all of us.” She pointed over to a man on the floor with Brennan, and waved at him. “That’s my husband, Frankie. I heard you helped Kristoff with all the kids this week.”

Nodding, Anna smiled, quickly cheering up. “Hi! I’m so happy to meet--”

Cut off by large arms wrapping around her waist, Anna yelped when Bulda lifted her up off the ground, gasping loudly.

“My, my, you sweet thing! You’re light as a feather!” She dropped the redhead back onto her feet, and rested her hands on Anna’s shoulders. “Good thing we made tons and tons of food tonight - Definitely going to get you fed right, darling!”

Before Anna could even reply, she was being dragged off to the kitchen, Elsa laughing and waving goodbye to her little sister.

Bulda finally let go of her hand when they burst through the swinging door of the large kitchen, and Anna had to stop to take a deep breath. She knew she was going to be meeting a few people, but she hadn’t prepared herself for _this_ many.

“Oh hey there! You’re new!”

Anna turned her eyes up to a tall, curvy woman with long, wavy hair, who was smiling and pouring herself a glass of eggnog. She was absolutely stunning, and Anna felt suddenly intimidated. She opened her mouth to introduce herself, blushing when no words came out.

“Anna, right?” That voice was quieter and higher, causing Anna to turn and face another woman with a steaming mug clenched between her fingers.

Nodding and smiling, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, shoulders relaxing. “Yeah, I’m Anna. You are…?”

Bulda clapped a hand on the littler woman’s shoulder, letting out a rich belly laugh. “This is Rose… Jeremiah’s wife. And that’s Jasmine, Devon’s wife. Have you met either of them yet?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she hummed, tapping her finger against her chin. “I’ve met Maia and Curtis… and waved to Frankie… and then a man and a woman pulled Kristoff away --”

Another laugh echoed from Jasmine, who was obviously already tipsy, and she waved her hands around. “That would be my husband, baby - and probably Kiara.”

The swinging door came inward, and a short, thin woman appeared from behind it. “Did I just hear someone say my name?” Her curly hair was bouncing around her ears as she shifted the little girl propped up on her hip, and she stuck out her right hand to Anna. “I would be the aforementioned Kiara. You’re Anna, yeah?”

Anna shook her hand, and blushed when Katie reached out for her, laughing excitedly.

“Can I go to Anna?” the little girl asked, holding onto her aunt’s neck.

Kiara feigned being hurt, before handing her over to the newest girl in the house. “Well I’ll be, Katie. You like her more than me?”

“Of course not!” she protested, throwing her hands up over her head while Anna adjusted her grip on the girl. “Anna’s just different!”

Kiara nodded, huffing out a small “Well I see how it is,” before turning to face her in-laws and figuring out what else needed to be done. When all was said and done, they figured that Kiara and Anna were free to go, and Kristoff’s sister grabbed at her hands. “Come on, Anna. Who else do you have to meet?”

Jasmine took her daughter from Anna’s hands before she was dragged back into the main room of the house, and continued back to cooking.

“O-oh… I don’t know… I’ve met a lot of people in about five minutes and I’m just really--”

“So probably the wet blankets Maia and Curtis, yeah?” Kiara laughed, pulling her away from the entrance where her siblings were sitting (and sticking their tongues out at her), and towards the large television in the front of the room. “Over here is my Pa and oldest brother, Jeremiah. Have you met them yet?”

“Ah, no--”

“Okay! That’s Jeremiah and that’s my Pa - Cliff.”

Both of the men turned their gazes up to the redhead, smiling and saying hello, before turning their attention back to the football game that was playing on the big screen. Anna felt a little rejected for a moment, just until Kiara placed a hand on her shoulder and started leading her away with a comforting smile.

“I think Kristoff is back here. I’m sure you want to get back to him.”

Blushing and smiling, Anna mumbled a relieved “yeah, please,” and followed behind the sweet girl. Before she saw anything, she heard Kristoff’s familiar voice yelling nonsense, and within a few seconds, she saw him tangled on the ground, with Jason and another unfamiliar man sitting on top of him.

Kiara couldn’t help but laugh, gesturing towards the pile of boys. “And that would be Devon. Is that everyone?” She waited as Anna counted on her fingers, mumbling the names of all of the siblings, and when she heard every name be recited, she smiled and clapped a hand on the girls back. “Good! That’s everyone! You officially know the entire Stein clan.”

Visibly relaxing and letting out a small titter, Anna leaned back against the door frame. “Thank goodness. You guys seem so wonderful - but there are a _lot_ of new faces… It’s just a little overwhelming.”

Kristoff finally managed to get the other boys off of him with a loud grunt, and stood up, dusting himself off. “Well if _these_ idiots didn’t drag me off, I would have _helped_.”

“Sooooorry~” Kiara sang, reaching over to the table of hors d'oeuvres and tossing a pepper popper into her mouth, effectively shutting herself up. She averted her eyes as Kristoff approached them, mouth turned down into a scowl.

He came up to Anna, cupping his hands around her cheeks, and let his frown soften. “Are you all right?”

Nodding and raising her hands to his waist, Anna smiled. “Yes, I’m fine. Glad to have you back, though.”

Kiara watched with interest on her face as he leaned forward and placed a chaste, but deep, kiss onto Anna’s lips, and balked, eyes wide. “Whoa, whoa! What’s going on? Are you guys like… a thing?”

Devon ran forward and slapped a hand onto his brothers’ back, laughing like a hyena. “Not so bad, Kris. Here I was thinking that you were just going to die alone with a ton of dogs or something.”

“Thanks, Dev.”

Anna couldn’t help but giggle as he leaned closer against her, pressing her back into the wall as if he were attempting to protect her from something.

“But yeah, we’re… sort of a thing, I guess.” Kristoff shrugged and turned his gaze back down towards Anna.

Kiara flopped down on the couch on the perpendicular wall, letting out a huff of breath. “You don’t sound too thrilled about it, baby bro.”

Peeking down below his bicep, Anna piped in. “It’s a little complicated. But I like whatever it is that we are.”

A loud bell chimed from the dining room, and the loud, belly rich voice of Bulda came ringing through the house. “Dinner tiiiiime!”

Kiara and Devon dashed out of the room, laughing hysterically, as Kristoff bent down to press his forehead against Anna’s. They were alone for just a moment, and Kristoff wanted to take advantage of it.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Smiling, Anna lifted a hand and pressed it against his cheek, delighting in the way that he leaned into her touch. “I’m sure. I’m just trying to remember everyone’s names.”

Pressing one more kiss against her forehead, and another on the tip of her nose, Kristoff smirked down at her. “It’ll be fine. I’ll help you.”

\---

Kristoff and Anna were the last to arrive at the dinner table by quite a good margin of time, and they blushed even deeper at all the suggestive howling and hooting that came from the large, loud family. They couldn’t help themselves, though. Anna kissed him once, Kristoff kissed her deeper, and then their hands had started wandering until they heard someone calling their names.

The chairs between Elsa and Kiara were the only ones open, and the two of them quietly shuffled back to the open space, sitting down between the equally smiley sisters.

They simply linked hands beneath the table as food got passed around between the whole family, waiting patiently for it to all reach them. After a few minutes, everyone seemed settled down with full plates of food and were all chattering away, and Kristoff let go of her hand to rub his palm down over her thigh before lifting it back up to the table.

“So, Anna,” came across the table from Maia (she thought), and Anna looked up towards the source. “How are you liking it here? Elsa gave me the short story about you coming to live with her for the time being.”

Swallowing her bite, Anna smiled across the table. “It’s not too bad - much colder than I’m used to. And I haven’t really done much so --”

“Kristoff!” A scolding voice of his mother cut through the rest of the general dinner noise, and he gulped nervously. “What, you haven’t been showing her around?”

Suddenly the table came to life with everyone giving their suggestions of places they should go, of things that Anna just _had_ to see - about how they’d be happy to take her out whenever she wanted… Anna had never felt more welcomed into a home than she was right now. She could feel herself tearing up, and had to forcibly swallow the lump that was forming in her throat.

Everyone continued howling and chattering as they ate, Anna doing her absolute best to join in to the conversations. There was some laughter about Kristoff as a child, which would leave Anna _aww_ ing next to him, patting his hand as he dropped his head into the other one.

By the time everyone had finished, Anna had felt more stuffed than she ever thought possible, leaning back in her chair and rubbing at her now bloated belly. The men all got up to clean, demonstrating their incredibly even style of living in this house, and Anna smiled as she watched Kristoff scoop up all of the kids to keep them out of trouble.

The cleanup was quick, and soon Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa were all packed up with some leftovers and were prepared to head out. There were hugs and kisses all around as the family said their goodbyes to the trio, with all of them paying special attention to Anna, making sure to tell her to come back around sometime, to not be a stranger.

She couldn’t help the giant smile that plastered itself on her lips for all of that time.

\---

Due to the late hour on a weekday, they got home with almost no traffic at all.

Elsa hopped out of the car, grabbing the cooler that his mother always packed for her, and headed upstairs, saying goodnight to Kristoff, and allowing them to have a moment to themselves to say their goodbyes. She wouldn’t admit how happy it made her that they were sort of an item, but all of her actions let them know for her.

As soon as she disappeared behind the door, Kristoff and Anna turned to one another.

“So… I’m sorry about my family.” Kristoff rubbed at the back of his head, chuckling to himself. “They’re a little bit nuts…”

“No, no!” she protested, resting a hand on his bicep. “I loved them. They…” Anna bit at her lip and glanced down for just a minute. “They made me feel like I was a part of the family.”

Kristoff nodded. “They’re good at that. They welcome everyone in right away.”

They stared at one another for just a minute before they started laughing, stepping just a little closer to one another.

“So, does that count as a first real date?” Anna had to ask.

Weaving his fingers into her hair and resting the heels of his palms on her shoulders, Kristoff couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t know. Isn’t meeting the family like a whole big deal in dating?”

“I think so…”

“So I guess this makes us a relatively serious couple,” he joked, leaning down to press his forehead against hers. “I mean, if you want.”

Curling her fingers against his chest, Anna pressed forward. “I’m… I…”

Kristoff could sense the nervousness in her voice and leaned down to press his lips to hers just one more time before leaving her for the night. “Don’t worry. I’m just kidding. We’ll do whatever it is you need to, okay?”

She nodded and slid her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek against his chest. “I’ll see you tomorrow for our evening walk with Sven, right?”

Smiling and pulling back, Kristoff let out a slightly relieved sigh. “Of course. I can’t wait.”


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. I'm sorry about this chapter. Blegh.

Anna was sitting fairly quietly in the car as Hans made his way back towards his place, knees shaking with anticipation. She hadn’t seen his home yet, and the fact that he was on the wealthy side made her even more nervous about going there. She lived in a messy little apartment with her sister… and she pretty much expected that he would be living in a lush house or condo, that was crisp white and grey, filled with things her clumsy self would be in danger of breaking at any second. Her fingers twisted together in her lap while she worried her bottom lip. 

“So…” Hans broke the silence, noticing her anxious hands, and reached over to lace their fingers together. “Do you want to go out tonight, or just…” A grin spread across his lips. “Stay in?”

Feeling the flush spread across her cheeks and nose, Anna pressed her lips together, glancing around the car before she finally settled her gaze on their hands. “S-staying in sounds… sounds nice. We always go out…”

He lifted their joined hands to his mouth, kissing gently at the back of hers. He had felt her drifting a little, ever since they had the discussion about being…  _ open…  _ so he thought a night in might benefit him in their relationship. He needed her to feel close to him again, and what would be better than staying at his townhouse and bonding? “Wonderful. I’ll cook?”

Pulling up into his driveway, Hans smiled at her as her blush spread to her neck. It seemed that his plan was already working. “Come on,” he mumbled, letting go of her hand and gesturing with his head. “Mine’s that one on the end.” As he stepped out of his car and headed towards his home, Anna followed him eagerly, bouncing up the sidewalk behind him, her hands coming to rest on his hips as he climbed the steps of his porch to the front door. 

Maybe this wasn’t his worst decision.

In order to prove to his father that he was ready to inherit the business, he needed to move towards a settled life. Wife… Dog… Maybe kids, if it got to that point. But, as far as he could tell, Anna wasn’t the worst choice he could have made. She listened to him, followed him around, and believed that the ideas  _ he  _ really made were hers. She would be easy to bend - to  _ mold _ \- into something he needed... and desired.

He shrugged his shoulders as he unlocked the door, swinging it inwards to reveal a crisp, modern interior. 

Gasping, Anna peeked around his arm and smiled, glancing up at him. “It’s so… clean!” 

_ Clean _ ?! 

“I mean…” She gulped, stepping back from him and waited for him to invite her inside. “It’s really… It’s lovely!”

Smiling and resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Hans took his step over the threshold, taking her hand and pulling her in. “Come on in, Anna… You can get comfortable. I’ll get dinner started.”

Anna stepped in slowly, taking in the plush, white carpet, and followed his lead by removing her shoes at the door. Turning her toes together, she blushed in embarrassment at her mismatched socks, frowning at how childish she looked compared to his completely put together business attire. “So… should I sit with you in the kitchen… or…?”

“Oh no, please,” he grinned, placing a hand on her shoulder and leading her towards the grey couch in the middle of his living room. “Sit down, relax, watch some television… Dinner shouldn’t take long.”

Sitting down, her feet flat against the floor, Anna nodded up at Hans before watching him disappear into the kitchen. After a moment she started idly flipping through the channels, bypassing the cartoons she  _ wanted  _ to watch in order to find something more… suitable. She sighed and left on some procedural cop show before pulling her phone out of her pocket to find a text message from Kristoff.

_ [ good evening, freckles. I hope you’re having a good night and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. ] _

A smile tugged at her lips and she started typing a reply, before realizing that she probably shouldn’t be texting one of the men she was sleeping with while spending time with the  _ other  _ one… But she couldn’t help herself.

_** [ hiiiii. i cant wait to see you either. have a good night :) ] ** _

But she promised herself that she’d be good after that. Anna knew she had to make a decision eventually, so it was only fair that she use the time she was spending with each of them to  _ really  _ get to know each of them. It got difficult when her phone buzzed a few times. 

Suddenly, Hans appeared around the wall that separated the dining room from the kitchen, a smile on his face. “About five more minutes, Anna.” He waited just long enough for her to nod before turning back towards the oven.

Baked chicken, roasted vegetables, and mashed potatoes… they were easy enough and didn’t take much effort, so he didn’t mind making her a dinner. It would definitely put him on her good side. Every woman he met  _ loved  _ that he could cook for them - it was  _ always  _ a plus to them. Women were simple.

Anna was one of the most basic he had ever met.

She was happy with just being acknowledged, and Hans adored the fact that she was completely enamored with the promise of love. It really made his job much easier.

Quickly making two plates, he set them on the table before stepping out to retrieve her, leading her with a gentle hand to the dining room. “I hope you like it, Anna. It’s not much…”

“ Oh,” she shushed him, sitting at the table and watching as he sat across from her, a smile forming beneath her brightly shining eyes. “It’s  _ more  _ than enough, Hans. I’m just…” She blushed, glancing down for a moment. “I’m really surprised that you cooked for me. It makes me feel kind of… special.”

Jackpot.

He reached across the table, clasping her hand in his, and gave her the softest look of admiration that he could muster. “You  _ are  _ special.”

\---

Kristoff stared down at his phone with worried eyes. It wasn’t like Anna to reply once and then not reply immediately after… He sighed, dropping his hand to his hip, shoving his phone back into his pocket. 

It wasn’t like he didn’t  _ know  _ where she was tonight. It was a Hans night, as she had deemed it. But he would see her tomorrow. He would see her  _ tomorrow _ . It was okay. He could…

… Survive, at the very least.

But he wasn’t going to be happy about it. 

Climbing into his truck, Kristoff tried his best to focus on getting home and having a nice, warm meal with man’s best friend, instead of wondering just what it is that she was doing with  _ him _ . He wouldn’t think about how she let him touch her. Wouldn’t think about how she let him kiss her… or hold her… or…

Kristoff slammed his hands onto the wheel, gripping so tightly his knuckles turned white. 

His whole life did  _ not  _ revolve around Anna, and he couldn’t let his worried thoughts take over the rest of his plans for this Saturday evening. Groaning as he pulled out onto the main road, Kristoff willed himself to get his thoughts  _ anywhere else _ .

\---

Anna was afraid to admit that she was still a little bit hungry. Hans’ cooking was absolutely delicious, but it was a little bit delicate for her ravenous stomach. Maybe it wasn’t obvious from looking at her, but Anna was the type who could scarf down ten burgers on her own in one sitting… and a lean chicken breast and some vegetables just weren’t cutting it.

But she did her best to keep her stomach growling to a minimum as she was snuggled up against Hans’ side watching a movie. It was one she had seen a hundred times… but he had let her pick, and Anna felt herself already far too distracted to pay attention to a new one.

Though, his hands wandering up her thighs told her that he wasn’t too invested in the movie, either. Truth was, he wasn’t interested in the movie at  _ all _ . He had let her pick, let her browse through his selection and ultimately pick something he knew she would have seen before… because then  _ that  _ gave him an excuse to grow tired of it.

He shifted on the couch, turning towards Anna and drawing her closer under his arm, his free hand applying more pressure to her thigh, waiting for the  _ right moment _ …  Seizing it as she turned to face him, their noses bumping together. He kissed her then, firm and demanding, lifting his hand to rest on her throat, his thumb pressing into the bottom of her chin.

Always in control - at least a little bit at the minimum.

The movie was forgotten as his hands roamed, as her palms slid over the soft silk of his shirt, as cloth fell around them and they moved hastily towards his bedroom, falling back together onto smooth cotton sheets.

\---

Hans woke when the sun hit his eyes. Groaning and rolling away from it as quickly as he could manage, he wound up face to face with the little redhead who had spent the night in his bed. The memories came back to him quickly, his scowl fading into something much more apathetic as he remembered why exactly he had to break his usual rule.

He never let them stay over. But Anna… He had to. He needed to lure her back in - and he had a feeling that kicking her out after sex wouldn’t help him do that.

Stroking a soft hand through her tangled mass of hair, Hans sighed. She  _ was  _ beautiful… and she was so,  _ so  _ willing, so soft and pliable… and best of all, desperation oozed out of her every pore. Anna truly was  _ perfect  _ for what he needed.

Maybe he could learn to care for her over time… And if she stuck around long enough, if he could bend her  _ far  _ enough to become something he found more appealing than irritating, there could be a chance he might learn to  _ love  _ her...

Well… Maybe not.

There was no sense in getting carried away. 

He could pretend, at the very least, just for long enough to get what he wanted - what he was so  _ desperate  _ for. All he needed now was for Anna to want nothing - no  _ one _ \- other than him. Though he had the feeling that would be easy, considering that all she wanted was love.  _ Love _ . Something he could never  _ truly  _ give her… 

Hazel eyes turned up as a phone that was not his began to vibrate on his end table, not even causing a twitch from Anna. Who on earth would be calling her at this time? He reached across her carefully, flipping the phone face up to be greeted with a picture of a man that he found vaguely familiar. This was…  _ Oh. _

Hans almost laughed as he remembered the poor, parentless, farmer boy from his high school years. Was  _ that  _ his competition?  _ This _ …  sad excuse of a man? Who couldn’t even afford clothing without holes in them? 

She surely had terrible taste in men, didn’t she?

One who couldn’t love her, and one who couldn’t provide for her.

He supposed it came down to which was more important to the former heiress who had never felt love -  _ real  _ love.

Silencing her phone before dropping it back to the table, Hans leaned back to hover over her, placing a warm kiss against her brow. “Anna…” he hummed, his mouth vibrating on her skin. “Wake up, my dear.” 

She had never felt real love before, so how would she be able to tell the difference between  _ it  _ and  _ his  _ feigned affection? And if she believed  _ him…  _ Well then she’d believe he was giving her everything she wanted.

“Mmm…” she hummed, snuggling her face deeper into the pillow, but opening one eye just enough to peek up at Hans. “G’morning…”

All things considered, it wasn’t uncomfortable to be lying here with her. She was soft and warm with skin like silk, where bruises bloomed easily beneath his fingers. It was easy to mark her as his, to let any… trespassers… know  _ whose  _ she was. 

If he had to be stuck with one woman… well, he wouldn’t be too broken up about it being this pretty little thing.

Hans smiled, running a gentle hand against her cheek. “Good morning, beautiful.”

Blushing, Anna placed her hand on top of his, stroking a thumb over his knuckles. Beautiful… He thought she was beautiful? No one had called her that… no one except Hans. She bit her lip and stretched her neck to place a chaste kiss against his mouth. “How did you sleep?”

It was almost astounding how simple she was. His most basic methods worked on her like an absolute charm. Some women would roll their eyes, tell him they knew what he was trying to do… but not  _ Anna _ . No… Anna fell harder with every word that rolled off of his tongue. “Much better with you here.” He could see it in her eyes - that glimmer of blossoming affection.

He didn’t hesitate then, to kiss her deeply enough, for long enough, until he felt her shoulders and neck go limp in his grasp. It was so easy to take her breath away, to catch her on his hook and reel her back in when she started to stray.

Maybe just a sprinkling of guilt on top would help.

“You’re kissing differently,” Hans mumbled against her mouth. “Have you been kissing someone else?”

Anna let out a short laugh, rolling her shoulders away from him. “Well… we’re not exclusive so… yeah.”

He was slightly taken aback at her truthfulness, but that wouldn’t stop him. “Ah… that’s…” Averting his eyes, Hans frowned. “Disappointing…”

A thick silence fell between them, with Anna worrying her bottom lip as Hans waited, let her guilt ferment for a few moments before he continued. “I… I want to be exclusive, Anna. Just you and me… I told you that on the phone… I thought, maybe…” Pause. He saw the panic grow in her big blue eyes. “Maybe you wanted that, too.”

“ It’s not that I  _ don’t _ …  I just…” Anna sighed and pushed away from him. Things weren’t that simple anymore. If she hadn’t pursued Kristoff so quickly… if she hadn’t…  _ really  _ started to like him, maybe it would be.

But those are things that  _ did  _ happen.

“I need to think about it, Hans,” she finally mumbled, keeping her eyes downcast. 

He nodded, doing his absolute best to hide the disgust that was threatening to wash over his features. He didn’t have time to find someone else and start from scratch. It  _ had  _ to be Anna. “I understand.” Leaning forward, Hans tangled his fingers in her hair, turned her rather abruptly to face him, and basked in the flicker of fear that shined in her eyes. That was one of his  _ favorite  _ things. 

But he couldn’t let her fear him for long. 

Slanting his lips over hers, he turned that fear into passion, smiling when her arms came up to wrap around his shoulders. “Stay with me,” he murmured against her lips, pressing his body closer to hers. “For the weekend.”

Anna let out a shuddering breath against his mouth, accepting all of his small, increasingly wanton kisses. “I… Elsa might… need me…”

He moved to her throat, nipping lightly before running his tongue over the marks to soothe them.  _ Elsa _ . Elsa wouldn’t be the one  _ needing  _ her. It’d be that other man, that poor, pathetic man, who needed her -  _ wanted  _ her. But Hans wasn’t one to share his property so willingly. The next bite was harder, sure to leave a bruise, and he tugged on her hair to expose more of her throat to him - so fragile and vulnerable.

“Just for the weekend, Anna. Please.”

Her hands found his biceps, squeezing gently as his mouth moved over her skin. His passion made her weak, and without even willing herself to, Anna found herself nodding, mumbling agreement.

“Good.”

_ Very  _ good. 

Stay.

_ Heel _ .

She was  _ his _ . His toy, his pet, his  _ property _ …  and he would soon have her on a much tighter leash.

\---

Kristoff sighed as he got her answering machine  _ again _ , and started to redial her number, pausing over the  _ call  _ button. Maybe she was purposely ignoring him. Maybe… she had decided on Hans. She was  _ always  _ up and ready to go for their walks with Sven, so it was completely out of the ordinary for her to not answer her phone. He’d try once more.

Her greeting echoed through the earpiece, and Kristoff sighed.

“Hey, Anna… it’s me. Um… I’m about to come up to the apartment to see if you’re just oversleeping… but I figured I’d try one more time first.”

Beating himself up over what a  _ dumb _ message that was, Kristoff moved quickly to the entrance of the building, climbing the stairs to the sisters’ apartment. He knocked a few times, waited, and was unsurprised when his best friend answered the door. “Hey, Elsa.”

“Hey,” she smiled, stepping aside so he could come in. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah…” Kristoff rubbed at the back of his head, tapping his toe against the ground as Sven went to lay on his designated spot on the carpet of Elsa’s apartment. “Uh, Anna isn’t answering her phone. Is she still asleep?”

He saw her face drop, and knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.

“She…” Twisting her fingers together, Elsa sighed. “She’s spending the weekend at Hans’... She didn’t tell you?”

Kristoff laughed, bitter and short, before rolling his shoulders. “No, why would she?” He flinched away when Elsa’s hand rose to pat his shoulder, turning his eyes downward, and turned to the door. “Anyway, walk time. I’ll talk to you later.”

He could feel his heart pounding in his throat, his stomach dropping so low he thought it might just drop out of him. Why did he let her get this deep under his skin? He… He shouldn’t have. He should have known he wouldn’t win.

Sven trotted over, whining about already having to move, and they left, the door closing heavily behind them.

Frowning and turning back to her room, Elsa couldn’t help but feel guilty for having to be the one to tell him what was going on. If Anna was going to be dating both of them, she needed to be  _ honest  _ with them both. Elsa refused to ever make Kristoff feel that way  _ ever  _ again.

Besides… she wasn’t sure how she felt about Hans. He… he didn’t understand the complicated relationship between the sisters. He had no concern for Elsa and her worries about Anna, about her little sister. He was selfish. He never spoke with her outside of business transactions, and Elsa had the feeling that if she were to bring it up, he would tell her it was none of her business, anyway.

He came from a family of snakes, men who cheat and lie and manipulate to get their way, who work to hide anything that may be  _ detrimental  _ to the Westergard name. She had always felt that Hans may be the same… had never felt fully comfortable working for him.

But Anna liked him, and  _ trusted  _ him…

And she knew she couldn’t stifle her little sister. Their relationship was too fresh, too breakable.

\---

Kristoff wound his arm back, before hurling the tennis ball clear across the field, smiling as Sven chased it, barking and bouncing on his feet. He sat back on the bench, waiting patiently for his dog to bring it back, and pulled out his phone again.

Staring at her contact information, he sighed and rubbed at his head. If she had chosen Hans, he had to respect that, right? But all he had asked was that she told him as soon as she picked… So… maybe she hadn’t?

He groaned and let his head fall over the back of the bench, smiling slightly as Sven hopped up to sit beside him, happily chewing on the ball he had just fetched. Scratching at his dogs ears, Kristoff made a quick decision, and pressed the  _ call  _ button for Anna.

Her answering machine came up again, and he took in a deep breath.

“Hey, Anna… Me again. Look, um… I understand if you decided to pick Hans. I get it. But please just… just Let me know if you did, okay? All right.”

That put the ball in her court, at the very least.

Kristoff did his best to shove her and the situation as far out of his head as he could, turning all of his attention back to Sven.

\---

Anna had fallen back asleep at some point, and had dreamed of Kristoff. Dreamed of his touch, his kiss, his silky smooth voice… telling her she was beautiful, that he loved her, that he couldn’t imagine his life with anyone but her.

And when she woke up, she was more disappointed than she should have been to see Hans was the one beside her, kissing her shoulder to wake her up. The one whispering sweet words into her ear…

“Anna,” he whispered, pressing another kiss against her bare shoulder.

He knew  _ exactly  _ what she had been dreaming about.

Hans let out one small laugh against her skin. “You talk in your sleep.”

Her cheeks flushed, and she looked away, sighing when his arms wound around her. 

“Does he love you?”

Shaking her head, Anna shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

There it was. Hans knew exactly what it was time for. Knew  _ exactly  _ what he had to say to start to win her over again, to get her to lean more towards  _ him _ .

“I…” He felt her stiffen under his arms. “I do.”

Anna was silent. He had to really sell this.

“ You don’t have to love me yet, Anna. I just…” His grip tightened around her, and he could feel every twitch of her body beneath him. “I just want you to know that  _ I  _ love you.”

Her body shook just slightly, the small hiccup that comes before tears, and he held her closer, smiling as her hands squeezed his arms, nuzzling his nose into her hair. He promised her love, and that was enough for her. 

She was so  _ simple _ .


	18. Chapter 17

When Anna heard Elsa come through the door, she almost knocked over her chair with how rapidly she stood up from her desk. It had been a few days since she got home from Hans’, but Elsa had been working all day and sleeping at her studio, so Anna hadn’t had a chance to speak with her sister about everything.

She knew Elsa would be tired, but she _really_ needed to talk to her.

“Elsa?” she asked, peeking her head around the corner into the kitchen where she knew her sister would be, making a hot cup of tea - something she always did when she came home. “Can I talk to you for a little bit?”

Tired blue eyes turned up to her, and Elsa gave her the faintest of smiles. “Of course, Anna. Do you want some tea?”

Anna tip toed around the wall, refusing the offer for the drink, and sat quietly, waiting for her sister to be ready. She began idly twisting her hair around her finger as she watched the blonde move around the kitchen.

It took a few minutes for Elsa to finish making her drink, but the second she did, she sat across the table from her nervously fidgeting sister. “Okay… Are you all right?”

Biting her lip and hesitating, Anna took in a couple of deep breaths before placing her hands flat against the tabletop. “Okay… so…” She started picking at her nails, mumbling out little filler words until Elsa coughed, irritated, and forced her to continue. “Right so… Hans… told me he loved me.”

“Oh.” Elsa’s grip on her mug tightened, and she kept her eyes glued on her sister. “What did you say to that?”

Anna shrugged and started twirling her hair again. “I didn’t say anything.” At Elsa’s confused expression, she blew out a puff of air. “He said it was okay if I didn’t reciprocate yet. He just wanted me to know…”

They sat in silence, neither knowing what to say, for just a moment.

“I think it’s because of Kristoff. He just… wanted me to know.”

Nodding and lifting her mug to her lips, Elsa paused. “And… How do you feel about him?”

“I… don’t love him,” Anna whispered. “At least, not yet.” She tapped her fingers against the table, and watched her sister sip at her drink. “And… I really like Kristoff too, so…” Her shoulders slumped, and she let out an almost bitter laugh. “So that complicates things a little bit.”

Elsa exhaled and placed her mug back down on the table. “The only thing I can tell you for sure…” Pressing her lips together, she locked eyes with her sister. “Is that Kristoff… _really_ cares for you. So, for his benefit… Please, choose soon.”

“But Kristoff…” Anna dropped down, banging her head on the tabletop. “Kristoff doesn’t _love_ me, though. Hans _does_.”

It was hard to admit, but that was all she wanted - to be loved. It was why she acted the way she had growing up. It was why she let strangers from clubs take her home and touch her. It was why she fell for every lie they told her, every promise they made her. That they’d be there in the morning. That they’d call her. That they’d see her soon. It was why she let them _break her_ … over and over and _over_.

And Hans was promising that to her. He _did_ love her. He _wanted_ her around.

Kristoff… hadn’t even answered her calls for the last three days.

… But she didn’t want to give up on him yet.

“I understand, Anna,” Elsa mumbled, cutting through her thoughts. “But Kristoff has been through a lot that he probably hasn’t told you, yet.” She shrugged her shoulders, rolling her neck. “He’s likely holding back…”

Sighing and standing up from the table, Anna bit her lip. “Can… Can I borrow your car?”

Elsa simply pointed to her keys on the counter, and waved goodbye to her little sister, who wasted no time in running out the door.

\---

When she pulled up in his driveway, Anna took a deep, calming breath, before opening the door of the car and stepping out onto the pavement. He hadn’t responded to her calls, hadn’t been over, hadn’t said a damn _word_ in days… So it was time she took matters into her own hands.

She still wanted to be with him - and she was prepared to find out if he wanted to be with her.

Knowing it was his day to babysit the kids, Anna hesitated before knocking on the door, almost freezing when she heard their laughter. But she needed to do this, needed to talk to him before she made any decisions at all.

She knocked.

Only a minute passed before she heard the old hinges creaking, and saw Kristoff’s brightly smiling face - until it dropped. “Hi? She offered, smiling and raising her eyebrows. “You weren’t responding to anything so I figured… I’d just come over.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Kristoff offered her a soft smile before stepping to the side to let her in. “Come on. Ma will be over soon to get them anyway.”

Anna lit up like the sun, practically skipping over the threshold into his home, grinning like the devil when she felt him reach down and grab her hands, fingers locking together. She followed him to the den, laughing as Katie jumped up into her arms, and nuzzled the little girl close to her neck before sitting down to watch a movie with the family.

It was only about an hour before his mother came and the kids all left, and Anna and Kristoff were left alone to talk about what they were doing - what was happening…

He was the first to break the silence. “So…”

Anna leaned across the couch when he spoke, hastily slanting her mouth over his, pressing a firm hand to the back of his head. She relaxed when his arms shifted, wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “So…” she mumbled against his lips, smiling as he kissed her again.

“You didn’t choose yet, did you?” His voice was a low whisper against her skin.

“Nope.” Winding her arms around his neck, Anna nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck.

They sat together in silence for a while, simply enjoying the company of one another as the movie menu continued repeating itself. Kristoff’s hand was rubbing gentle circles on her back, coaxing her into a slow, sleepy trance.

“Can,” she yawned, shifting on his lap. “Can we spend the day together tomorrow?”

Kristoff paused, thinking for a moment, before shaking his head no. “I’m sorry… I have to get ice tomorrow.”

Sitting up and pouting, Anna put on her best puppy dog eyes, and whined. “Well… I can coooome. I’ll be your little helper.” She completely missed the way his jaw clenched and his hand tightened into a fist.

“No way, Anna. Not happening.”

“But --”

“I said no.”

He wouldn’t even look at her, his eyes staring forward with an intensity that Anna hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t frustration. Just…

Reaching up to place a kiss against the bottom of his chin, Anna whimpered against his skin. “But… I just want to spend time with you…”

A moment passed where he was simply frozen, until he sighed and let his shoulders slump. Pulling her a fraction closer, Kristoff groaned. “Fine. You’re staying over here because we have to get up early. But you’re not coming _on_ the ice, okay?”

Anna jumped up off his lap and let out a little excited squeak before she started barreling over to his coat closet in the front of his house. She had remembered seeing a pair of snow pants and a jacket that seemed like they’d be far too small for him. “Are these an old pair of your pants?” Reaching in to pull out the hanger, Anna held them up in front of her, happy that they seemed that they’d fit her just right.

“What? No, I don’t keep any --” Realization hit him like a truck, and Kristoff almost bolted over to her, tearing the clothing from her hands. They were _Sam’s_ . And he had pretty much forgotten that they were there. “ _Don’t_ touch these.”

Anna flinched, recoiling and ducking her head down to lock her gaze on the floor. She stepped back and clasped her hands together in front of her lap. “Okay… I’m sorry. I… Elsa probably has some that I can borrow…”

Walking with haste towards the table where she had dropped her purse and keys, Anna practically ran towards the door. “Just come get me in like thirty minutes? I have to return her car anyway.”

The door slammed, and Kristoff mentally punched himself, shoving the pants back into the closet. It wasn’t like she knew. Anna had _no idea_. How could he snap at her like that? He leaned against the door, banging his forehead against it, slowly waiting for some time to pass before he’d head over to pick her up.

He waited patiently, then stomped out the door while practicing an apology in his head.

By the time he got to her apartment, it seemed like Anna had gotten completely past his slip up, and he couldn’t help but hug her close, tucking the top of her head under his chin. She smiled, placed a chaste kiss against his collarbone, and then jumped backwards to produce her sister’s old blue and purple snow jacket, and thick black pants.

Packing the rest of her stuff into a bag, they waved farewell to Elsa, who made sure to give Kristoff a short lecture about keeping her sister _safe_ on the ice. They ran out to the car, tossed everything into the bed of the truck and then headed home as quickly as they could, Kristoff hoping to get as much sleep as they could still manage before his four am wake up time.

\---

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Kristoff groaned, leaning across the small lump under his blankets to slap his alarm clock. After rubbing at his eyes for a moment, he let go of some of the weight his arm was bearing to lean down and press a kiss against the bundle of blanket where he thought her head might be. “Anna…” He tugged gently on the comforter, revealing her tangled hair, matted against her forehead, and her clamped shut eyes. “ _Anna_.”

He let out a soft laugh at her as she shoved her face down into the pillow, mumbling something somewhat coherent as _too early_. Pushing her hair back away from her eyes, Kristoff placed another soft kiss on her temple. “You wanna sleep more?”

Nodding, Anna buried her nose back into the pillow, smiling and letting out a contented hum.

Kristoff rolled off of her and out of the bed, and moved relatively slowly to do his normal morning routine. Let Sven out into the back yard, put on the coffee, put away the dishes, let Sven back inside, fed him, then moved towards the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror, ran quick hands through his hair to get out tangles, pulled on the skin of his neck to check if it was quite time to shave yet (running his hands over his chin and deciding no, he could wait another day), and leaned over the sink to brush his teeth.

Taking care of everything had taken about forty minutes, and Kristoff figured it was time to wake the sleeping redhead again. He could hear her snoring from the hallway, and moved to the side of the bed, flipping on the light. “All right, up and at ‘em, Feisty Pants.”

She awoke with a jolt and pulled the thick blanket over her head. “Noooooo.”

“Come on, Anna,” he laughed, crossing his arms over his chest and placing a heavy foot on the bed to bounce the mattress. “I want to leave within the hour.”

Giving some sort of grumble in reply, Anna pulled the comforter further up and tucked it under her head. She kicked at his foot, hoping to _god_ that he’d stop shaking the damn bed.

Kristoff sighed before moving towards the end of the bed, taking a firm hold on the bottom of the blanket, and tugging downward in order to tear the blanket from her hands. “Rise and shiiiine, princess.” He watched, amused, as she practically threw a tantrum on the bed, finally winding up with her legs tucked under her chest in fetal position, her butt in the air and her face pressed flat into the mattress. “Come on. You’re the one who wanted to come.”

“But it’s so _early_ ,” she whined, clasping her hands together on the back of her head.

It barely took him a moment to decide that the best way to get Anna out of bed, would be to _physically remove her from the bed_.

Stretching forward to shove his arms under her small body, Kristoff flexed and shifted her, flipping her up and into his arms, managing to slide her into a bridal style hold, laughing when her sleepy eyes landed on him in a glare.

“Are you kidding me?”

He leaned forward to place a chaste kiss against her lips. “G’morning, Freckles.”

Anna whined the whole way to the kitchen, where he sat her up in a chair, and blinked as a hot mug of coffee, sugar, and cream appeared in front of her. She stretched her arms up over her head and fixed the coffee how she liked it, before lifting it up to her lips and sighing. “Okay, coffee helps.”

Kristoff laughed as he started tidying up again, and moved around the house to gather all of his tools that he may need for the day.

It took them both about thirty more minutes to get dressed and ready, and soon they were in his truck heading up towards the harvesting site. Kristoff unloaded quickly, throwing his heavy pack on his back, and grabbed Anna’s hand to lead her to the area with the thickest ice. Maybe it wouldn’t give him the cleanest cuts, but he could guarantee that it would be the safest.

“All right, just…” Placing his hands on her shoulders, Kristoff moved her a good few yards outside of his cutting range, making sure that she wasn’t anywhere near any part of ice that would be damaged. “Stay here.”

“Oh, come on!”

“ _Anna_.” His voice was low, almost threatening… if it weren’t laced with some form of fear.

She sat down in the snow, thankful for the waterproof pants, and smiled up at Kristoff. “Okay.” Anna noticed his shoulders visibly relax, and for once felt no need to be even remotely difficult. “I’ll be here.”

Kristoff moved back towards the area he was meaning to cut, and started scoring a large chunk of the glacier that was jutting out from the main formation.

Anna watched, her eyes dark and curious, as the muscles under his thick sweater shifted visibly as he marked and chopped and sawed… She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat, and bit at her lip. There always was a small boiling of lust churning in her stomach when she had the chance to watch him do something physical. But this was almost more than that.

There was something…

Different.

Kristoff was completely at ease. Yes, there was the tension from physical exertion on his face, but Anna could see that all of his day to day stress was _gone_. He looked peaceful, for once, and like this was where he was meant to be. On the ice, prepping it and cutting it.

She had to get a closer look.

Moving slowly, Anna stood, and took careful steps across the ice. She didn’t want to disrupt him, so she tried as best she could to stay quiet and let him keep his focus. One step. Two. She could see him biting lightly at his bottom lip, could see his bangs were damp with sweat. Three steps. Four. Saw his nose scrunch and nostrils flare with every push of the saw down into the ice. Five…

She didn’t even notice the small cracking of the ice beneath her feet.

But Kristoff did.

His ears perked up, and his head jerked around to glance at the red faced girl approaching him on the ice. His eyes looked down for a moment, to see the small, hairline fracture stretching from under the glacier to beneath her toes. “Anna…” he whispered, knowing that was all it took to start. Just that _tiny_ … fracture… “Anna, stop.”

“What?”

Dropping his tools and moving slowly, he could feel panic rush through his chest. Not again. He wouldn’t let it happen again. “Stop moving.”

She moved her back foot to stand up straight, and Kristoff saw it. Another crack forming, barely making a sound beneath her feet - but he saw it. Most likely it would be fine - it wouldn’t crack enough to put her in danger - but there was still a chance… and he wouldn’t _risk_ it.

Suddenly he was sprinting at her, his shoes barely gripping the ice, and her eyes widened as he grabbed her, threw her bodily up over his shoulder, and made a break for the land to the side of the lake. Her fists were pounding on his back, and he could hear her voice in the distance, but blood was pounding through his ears, everything felt so far away. _So far_.

He just…

He had to get her to solid land. Off the ice. To safety. Safe.

He had to get her _safe_.

Foot catching on the ledge of the bank, Kristoff tumbled over, landing heavily on top of Anna. He could hear her yelling, could hear the scrape of the snow shifting under his hands, could feel her shoving hard against his chest…

“What the _hell_ are you doing?!”

Her voice finally broke through the fog, snapping him out of his daze completely.

His throat tightened, almost choking him as he felt a sort of mistiness in his eyes. Was he about to… cry? Kristoff tried to swallow his tears, as he pulled Anna closer to him, tucking her head against his neck, and shook with unshed tears.

Reaching around his back under his arms, Anna held herself closer to him, kissing at his exposed skin. “Kristoff… Kristoff, are you okay?”

“I heard… I heard the ice cracking… and…”

She nodded, pressing her nose against his shoulder while trying her best to sit up underneath him. “Hey, it’s okay. Nothing happened. It didn’t break, we’re okay…” Feeling his arms tighten around her, Anna lifted a hand to press against the back of his head. “It’s okay…”

“It’s… what…” Kristoff hiccuped, pressing his lips against her head. “It’s what happened to Sam."

Petting at his hair, Anna hummed softly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

After a short pause, Kristoff nodded and moved to stand, pulling Anna up with him. “Yes.”

They moved together, finding a quiet, secluded place where he could still keep an eye on his tools and his cut ice. Anna sat down first, patting down the snow on the ground, and offered a warm hand to Kristoff, who promptly sat beside her.

“So… Who’s Sam?”

He told her, then, the thing he had been reluctant to reveal. About the girl he had fallen in love with when he was fourteen. About the girl who he was with for four years and was planning to propose to. About how she was a perfect match for him, at the time, and how they had been more than ready to start their lives together.

“She was going to go to college for architecture. We were going to build our own house…” He rubbed at the back of his head, laughing. “It was our romantic dream. We didn’t want a big wedding, or an expensive honeymoon. Just a house, a family…”

Anna’s jaw was clenched, and she did her best to keep her own negative feelings buried deep down in her mind. “So what happened? Where is she now?”

Swallowing, he gave her a soft smile. “We harvested together all the time. She liked coming with me… I met her out on the ice, in fact. Her dad was ice fishing… I was still practicing… so I would just go to the lake…” He shifted so his feet were flat on the ground, and rested his elbows against his knees.

“We were going on our normal trip… just to the lake. I was just cutting something small, enough for a party…” He ran his hands over his face. “She went around the lake, she was looking for something… and…”

His shoulders shook, and Anna placed warm hands on his forearm, laying her head against his shoulder.

“I heard a crack. A loud one. I looked around, and she was nowhere to be seen. I started running around the ice… I finally found the hole…” Hands tightening into fists, Kristoff’s teeth ground together, and he glanced up at her. “I was too late, you know? I couldn’t even find her…”

A heavy silence fell between them, Anna’s grip tightening on his arm. “I’m so, _so_ sorry…”

“It’s been five years…” Kristoff gave a sad smile, and leaned forward to rest his chin on his arms. “I’m still not totally over it…”

Anna moved, rose up to sit on her knees and turned to face him. Her arms wound around his shoulders, and she pressed a soft, comforting kiss against his forehead. “I mean, I know I’m not her… and I’m sure that nothing can ever make it completely better…”

His head turned to face her, eyes raking over her whole face.

“But you have me, now… and I’ll do whatever I can to help… okay? I’m…” She offered him a smile, and a shrug of her shoulders. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Lifting a hand to cup her cheek, Kristoff pulled his sweet, sweet Anna to his lips, kissing her softly as she leaned into him. He smiled against her mouth, running a thumb over his cheek. “Thank you.”


	19. Chapter 18

“I can’t believe you talked me into this!” 

Kristoff couldn’t help but chuckle at the screaming redhead behind him, stepping over another root before pausing to look back at her, just as she tripped over another stone. “What do you mean, talked you into it?” He gave her a small wink before lifting some low branches up and over her head as she passed under them. “You’re the one who seemed so eager to come.”

Rolling her eyes as she tripped over yet  _ another goddamn root _ , Anna threw her hands up over her head. “Well I didn’t think we’d be  _ hiking _ there! I just expected a nice car ride --  _ oof _ \-- and a  _ lot  _ less tripping roots!” She stopped for a minute, leaning down to brush some dirt off of her pants. “Hiking is the worst. The outdoors suck.”

“ Sorry, Anna,” he laughed, slapping a hand onto her back as she stood again, adjusting the pack on her shoulders. “We’re almost there, I promise.” He took a few more steps before glancing down at her with one raised brow. “But… To sort of shift the blame here… you  _ could  _ have said no when I suggested camping.”

She bit her lip before giving him one of her brightest smiles. “No! I didn’t want to do that because…” Blushing and turning her eyes back down to the path, Anna shrugged. “Well… You seemed so happy and at ease out on the ice… I figured you’d be the same in other places you loved… and I wanted to see that, you know?”

Trying to fight the dopey smile that was threatening to cross his cheeks, Kristoff shoved his hands into his pockets, and turned his head away from her. “Oh… Yeah, I…” He coughed to try and get rid of the flush spreading across his cheeks. “I get that…”

A not quite awkward silence fell between them as they continued along the path, both unsure of what to say next. They had agreed to be dating… but neither had said it was a serious thing. So… Kristoff wasn’t sure just what exactly Anna meant by wanting to see him in places he loved. Did she want to experience his lifestyle…?

He shook his head clear of his thoughts when he saw the familiar clearing of trees. A smile spread on his lips and he reached down to lace his fingers between hers. “Come on, it’s right up here.” Moving quickly, he led her under some more branches, pulling anything that could possibly hurt her away from her body, and pulled her out to the large clearing at the edge of a cliff.

Almost completely surrounded by forest and mountainsides, with the cliff’s ledge hanging over a river gap, the clearing was isolated from the nearby camping areas. It almost seemed untouched… as if it were a secret, one that was hard to find.

“People don’t come up this way through the woods much,” Kristoff shrugged, grinning down at the awestruck woman. “My pa found it after they adopted me…” Rubbing a hand against the back of his head, he laughed. “None of my siblings know about this place… He brought me here so we could bond… so I wouldn’t feel so… you know… left out.”

Leaning her head against his shoulder, Anna tried her best to take in the whole sight in front of her, a beautiful curving river in between this cliff and the opposing mountainside, surrounded by the wilting colors of autumn. “It’s so… That’s so…” She wrapped her arms around his middle, and tucked her nose in against his arm. “It’s beautiful, Kristoff… Thank you for bringing me here.”

Kristoff nodded, placing a soft kiss against her forehead, and pulled back slightly, shifting the large pack that was resting on his back. “All right, let me set up camp before it gets dark.”

“Can I help?” she asked, bouncing next to him as he moved back towards the thicket of trees, setting his pack down on the ground. 

Initially he agreed, until he realized that Anna didn’t know anything about putting together a tent -- about where to lay things, which pole to stick where… and he officially gave up when he pulled the bottom of the tent taut enough to pull her right flat onto her belly. 

She rolled over laughing as Kristoff came around the tent to check on her, and sat up as her laughter calmed. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yes! Totally okay…” Twisting her fingers together as she stood, Anna rubbed the dirt off of the thighs of her pants. “I’m not very good at this though.”

Kristoff placed a chaste kiss against her lips before patting her arm. “I can set it up by myself, it’s okay.” 

After agreement that it was definitely more Kristoff’s forte to set this stuff up, Anna skipped off to find a good sized rock that she could sit up on, picking flowers and other pretty little flourishes along the way. Turning to enjoy the view, Anna busied her hands with weaving the stems of the plants together, making a soft little crown of flowers. She placed it in her lap, and began to weave the extra flowers through her braids. 

About ten minutes passed before Anna felt a pair of warm arms weave around her shoulders and a pair of warm lips press against her throat. “All done?” she asked, turning to face him. 

“ Yep, all set. I even put our bags inside if you want to change.” Kristoff felt her shifting, and found a circlet of flowers resting on his head. Normally he would have scolded someone for doing this to him - he definitely wasn’t the type to wear  _ flower crowns _ …  but all he could feel was a strange warmth blooming in his chest as she looked at him adoringly. “... I just have to build a fire to make a quick dinner.”

Anna laughed and nodded, grinning from ear to ear. “Sounds perfect.” 

They moved back towards the tent, Kristoff building up a fire in a pit that he and his father had made when he was younger and Anna stepping into the tent, zipping it up behind her. 

Pulling the silly crown from his head, he couldn’t help but laugh as he heard Anna cursing, fumbling around in the tent and falling onto the bags as she tried to change her clothing, and did his best to build a big enough fire, all while calling out to her and making sure she was okay. 

“ I’m fine, you worrywart!” she exclaimed, coming out from the tent clad in a baggy pair of sweatpants and her over-sized  _ I Like Warm Hugs _ T-shirt. “Just… not used to getting dressed in a tent!”

Smiling at her shirt, Kristoff patted the spot on the log next to him, throwing some vegetables into the skillet that was settled over the fire. “Dinner won’t take long,” he muttered, wiping a hand across his forehead to remove the sweat he could feel beading at his hairline. “Just gotta do the steaks really quickly.”

Anna ate with gusto, somehow managing to shock Kristoff as she devoured the meat faster than he was even able to get through half of it, and by the time he had finished, Anna had already laid out a thick blanket onto the ground, patting the spot next to her. 

It was finally dark, and she could barely contain her excitement to possibly see the northern lights without the light pollution from the city. “Come on!” she hollered, growing impatient as he piled up the plates in a bucket, and stood up to grab at his arm. “I want to see the lights!”

“Wha…?” he mumbled, dropping a few utensils as he was dragged off towards the blanket. “What lights?”

“ The  _ lights _ !” Anna bounced on her toes before plopping down on the blanket in front of him. “You know, the ones that keep the sky awake.”

Sitting beside her, Kristoff smiled. “The… The Aurora Borealis?”

“Yes!” Pressing on his shoulders to make him lay backwards, Anna flopped down beside him, resting her head onto his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his chest. “I’ve been wanting to see them since I got her - but Elsa said they’re not visible until late in the year. Do you think we’ll be able to see them now?” Squeezing him just a little tighter, she let out a dreamy sigh. “I just want to see them so badly…”

Pausing for a moment, Kristoff wound his arm around her shoulders and placed a soft kiss against her forehead. “They’re usually not out yet…” Kristoff pulled her a little closer as he could feel her deflate. “But hey, I’ll make you a deal…” He leaned back, smiling as she rose her head to look down at him. “I’ll look at the predictions for when they’re visible… and we’ll come back up here, okay?”

Anna nodded, and nuzzled herself back into his shoulder, admiring the clear skies above them.

\---

Eyes opening to a brightly lit tent, Anna squinted and looked around her. She didn’t  _ remember  _ coming into the tent… So she figured she must have fallen asleep on the blanket outside and been carried in. Turning up to face the warm body under her, she smiled with adoration when she found brown eyes looking down at her.

“G’morning,” he hummed, running a hand across the back of her matted hair. “How’d you sleep?”

Anna yawned before stretching her hands up over her head. “Pretty well, considering I’m on the ground.” She squeezed her legs around his, worming her way up his chest so that their heads were lined up. “I like sleeping next to you. You’re warm.”

He laughed and pressed a hand against her cheek, drawing her closer before pressing a full kiss against her lips. He pulled her closer and laid a firm hand against her back when she returned the kiss, even deepened it. Until he started to laugh against her mouth.

“What?” she mumbled, pulling back just enough to let her own smile stretch her cheeks. “What’s so funny?”

“ I, uh…” Kristoff ran his thumb over her cheekbone, a soft smirk on his lips. “I just find it kind of funny… Kind of weird, even… How, uh…” He rubbed at the back of his neck, not quite sure how to say what was weighing on his mind. “How much I enjoy being around you, you know? Most of the time…” He shrugged, and rolled over onto his back. “Most people irritate the hell out of me. And honestly, I assumed you would too… But there’s just…  _ something _ ,” Kristoff paused, turning his head to face her. “Something that makes me want to be around you.”

Slowly growing misty eyed as he continued fumbling over his words, Anna quickly sat up to hide her tearing eyes from Kristoff. She wiped at her eyes, before pulling her knees up to her chest.

“H-hey…” He rubbed a circle over her back, sitting up beside her. “I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

She shook her head and pressed her nose between her knees, biting back the sobs that were threatening to take over her. “I’m… Look…” She knew her face was growing red, and she shyly moved to face him, her cheek still against her leg. “I’ve… I’ve never really been wanted before… It feels…  _ nice _ .” Stretching her arms out in front of her, Anna cracked her knuckles before turning her attention back to Kristoff. “I’ve had a lot of people tell me that I’m… I’m  _ not  _ wanted… not… not  _ worth _ wanting.”

Kristoff’s hand froze on her back and he scooted to sit just a little closer to her, deciding that it was better to just let her talk.

“ Please,” she whispered, squeezing her arms around her knees. “Don’t tell Elsa anything I’m about to tell you… I haven’t told  _ anyone _ …  and I’m not ready for her to know what a screw up I am, okay?”

He nodded, pressing one light kiss against her temple. 

“So…” Taking one more deep breath, Anna made the decision to get it all out before she chickened out, letting all of the words tumble out over her tongue. “After Elsa left and cut off all contact with me, she had made it pretty clear that she didn’t want me around, you know? And after that, my new guardians sent me off to my estranged sister because obviously after a few years, they had grown tired of me too.”

Kristoff tried to interrupt, to tell her that that could not be the case, when she shushed him.

“ My parents always loved Elsa more. They pretended that they didn’t, but it was obvious. I was the second kid, the spare kid, the one they didn’t  _ mean  _ to have. Elsa was perfect, you know? I was an accident.” She sniffled once, shrugging. “But, anyway… so… Parents didn’t want me, sister didn’t want me, and basically my aunt and uncle didn’t want me… But even between Elsa leaving and being sent off to live here… I kind of started doing something bad.”

Wiping under her nose, Anna moved her gaze to the door of the tent, staring forwards. “When I was just sixteen, I got a fake ID so… so I could get into clubs. And when I got into those clubs, I would find men who looked lonely, like I was… All ages… from twenty-one to forty-five… And I would let them take me home… let them…” She swallowed, and closed her eyes. “ _ Make them _ want me… Until I woke up the next morning and realized that they didn’t…”

She felt the first tear fall, and started wiping at her face. “But for a moment there… I did feel wanted. They were so  _ desperate  _ to have me…” Shrugging, she tightened her grip on her knees. “It only went on for a little while… When I turned eighteen I stopped… Mostly because I got my trust fund and started traveling to… to find my sister… But sometimes it still got to me…” She sniffled again, letting out a sort of bitter laugh. “To be quite honest… when I saw how you looked at me that first day we kissed… It hit me again. I  _ needed  _ you to want me…”

Reaching one hand over to grab at the hand he had resting on his thigh, Anna smiled. “It just… It means so much to me that you  _ still do _ .”

“ Anna,” he almost laughed, squeezing her hand tighter before scooping her up and into his lap, smiling as she pressed her forehead into the crook of his neck. “You’re stuck with me, you hear that? Even if…” He swallowed hard, feeling a new tenseness in his shoulders. “Even if you pick Hans, even if we don’t work out down the line… You were my friend first, and you’ll be my friend for as long as  _ you  _ want  _ me  _ around.” 

She let out one laugh, and wrapped her arms around his middle. “How do you know you won’t get sick of me too?”

Kristoff pulled back, a blush washing over his cheeks, and he looked down towards their laps. “Well… because… Basically, this is my safe place, you know?” he asked, running his hand over her knee. “This is my place to get away from everything and everyone. My pa can’t make this hike anymore, and no one else knows about it…” He shrugged. “I didn’t even tell Sam about it. You’re the first person to know… and that means you can find me whenever you want to.”

A teary smile spread over her face, and Anna practically assaulted him, slanting her lips over his and pushing him backwards into the plush layers of thick blankets. 

Kristoff quickly realized that there was something…  _ different  _ in the way she was kissing him this time… something… special.

Things moved quickly from there, clothing falling away, lips tracing every part of exposed skin, hands roaming over curves and bends and finding new places they hadn’t found before. Their touches were gentle and slow, moving together as if they had all the time in the world, versus their usually frantic meetings when they could find some time alone together.

Mouths latched onto sensitive throats, fingers squeezed and pinched and touched and  _ stroked _ , tumbling Anna over her edge multiple times before Kristoff slowly eased himself into her, thrusting slowly and shallowly, their mouths close together and kissing fervently between huffed breaths.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as she came again, her eyes closing as her fingers held onto his shoulders for dear life, her cheeks and nose flushed red as her lips parted into an almost perfect o… She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, hair disheveled, makeup not done, and all emotions out so openly on her face.

Pulling her close as he reached his end, Kristoff suddenly realized that his feelings for Anna ran much, much deeper than he was ready for. And were much stronger than he ever intended to let them get before she chose. And he was scared.  


\---

Anna woke up again later, quite similarly to how she had awoken the first time, except that she was alone now. She sat up, glancing around the tent, before sighing and pulling her clothing back on. The unfortunate bite of paranoia nibbled at the back of her mind, reminding her about all the other men who didn’t want to stay with her after sex, until she shook it off, reminding herself that it’s  _ Kristoff _ \- she had to be logical. He probably just went to the bathroom or something.

Unzipping the door of the tent, Anna smiled as the cool breeze of the outdoors kissed her skin. She gave one quick glance over the campsite, frowning when she saw no hint of Kristoff anywhere. She moved out to the ground, the soft grass under her bare feet relaxing her as she walked towards the edge of the cliff. 

The solidarity was nice for once. Lately she had been feeling a bit overwhelmed, so to be alone with her thoughts, with just the sound of the breeze and the river below, calmed her down significantly. 

It let her  _ think _ .

She took a deep breath, sat down by the ledge, and let her legs dangle over the river below. 

Things with Kristoff were getting a lot more serious than she had expected them to. For all intents and purposes, she had kind of just assumed they were close friends, who sort of liked each other, who would sleep together occasionally, until Hans decided that he wanted exclusivity. 

…  She hadn’t expected to feel this much towards Kristoff. She  _ also  _ hadn’t expected that she would turn Hans down when he did express his desire for exclusivity. 

But Hans loved her. Hans told her over and over how much he loved her. Hans was sad when she was with Kristoff.

Kristoff didn’t love her. He just seemed  _ angry _ when he knew she was with Hans. He either wouldn’t talk to her, or he would be short. 

But being with Kristoff was so much easier than being with Hans. She could be herself, be a mess, be in sweats and covered in food stains and eat all that she wanted and not feel like she was being judged. He was easily her best friend. But what if that was all they were supposed to be?

Being with Hans brought her passion, made her feel sexy and wanted and like a  _ woman _ . He showed her when he was upset, but never made her feel like she  _ couldn’t _ do something… Sure he got frustrated sometimes… But he was almost thirty. She was sure he just didn’t know how to deal with a younger twenty year old anymore…

Jumping when she heard footsteps, Anna sprang to her feet and turned around to find a sweat covered Kristoff, pulling an earbud out of his ear and raising an eyebrow at her. She sighed with relief and let her shoulders drop, taking a few steps towards him. “Hi there.”

“Hey -- You okay?” His hands found her jaw, observing her features and checking her over for injury.

“Yes, I’m fine. Really,” she muttered, shoving his hands from her face. “Just didn’t realize you’d be running up behind me.”

Kristoff laughed, pulling a small cloth from his pocket and wiping it over his forehead and back of his neck. “Sorry. My head was kind of full of thoughts this morning. Went for a run just to calm down. Didn’t think you’d be up yet, honestly.” Shoving his hands back into his pocket, he shrugged and moved towards the tent, quickly stepping in and digging through his bag. “I was going to go take a dip - wash off a bit…” He pulled out two towels, offering Anna one with a sheepish grin. “Wanna join me?”

Anna smiled, grabbing the towel from his hands and slipping on a pair of shoes. “Yes, definitely.”

She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her cheeks as they approached the hot spring and Kristoff’s clothes started coming off bit by bit. It was as if all of his inhibitions were gone out here in the woods… he seemed just so much more  _ comfortable _ . Joining him without a second thought, Anna hung her clothes up over a branch and, with help from Kristoff, eased over the ledge into the small spring.

“ Oh… this is…” She sighed, dunking her hair back into the water. “This is  _ amazing… _ ”

Kristoff shifted to stand behind her, running his fingers through her wet hair. “It was one of the reasons we liked this spot so much. Good place to bathe on long camping trips.” 

His hands began to wander, in the most chaste of ways, as he just dribbled water over her shoulders and back, lightly massaging her as he moved down towards her waist. He paused on every freckle, as if he were counting them, mentally mapping out the constellations on her skin. 

He was so gentle and Anna found herself starting to doze off under his warm palms, leaning into him as he pressed himself closer to her.

“Feel better?” he asked, his mouth against her hair. 

“Mhmm…” She gave him a sleepy hum as she relaxed against his chest.

Kristoff laughed and lifted her up slightly. “Come on, we can take another nap in the sun if you want. If you fall asleep in here you’ll feel nauseous when you get out.”

She groaned as he picked her up and helped her out of the spring. Wrapping a towel around herself, she turned to watch him dunk his head and quickly scrub himself down before easing himself out of the water. There was no helping the way her eyes scanned over his body as he dried his hair first, watching the water drip down from his broad shoulders all the way down to his sculpted hips and…

Turning away with a little bit of a yelp, Anna tried her best to bite down her blush. She had seen him naked before - it wasn’t like this was a new thing for her. But… getting to look at him as he just…  _ stood there _ …  That was something new.

She ignored him as best she could, pulling her clothing back on, and kept her back turned to give him some semblance of privacy. “Y-you ready?” she asked, daring to take one glance back to the blond. 

“Yep.” Kristoff was at her side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as he started walking them back towards the campsite.

The rest of the day had been incredibly relaxing. Kristoff had cooked up some eggs, Anna had cleaned up the dishes, and they had spent a good portion of the day laying together on a blanket enjoying the warm sun and autumn breeze as he read and she sketched in a little sketchbook.

Kristoff had chosen not to say anything about her drawings, figuring that most artists he knew - especially Elsa - didn’t enjoy when people hovered over their work and asked questions. But now, they were sitting around a small campfire, sticks in their hands, and marshmallows roasting.

So he thought it might be okay.

“So… you’re pretty good at drawing. Must run in the family, huh?”

Anna blushed before tucking her hair behind her ear. “Um… I guess so. I mean, my mother was a wonderful painter. And obviously Elsa is talented beyond belief…” She shrugged and gasped when her marshmallow caught fire, quickly bringing it to her mouth to blow it out. “I was, uh,” she paused to shove the hot, crispy treat between her lips, hoping to stall just a little bit. 

He just watched with interest as she licked the sticky mess from the corner of her mouth.

“I just started it because my mom and sister did it.” She placed another marshmallow on the end of her stick before continuing. “I don’t think I’ll ever get good enough to do anything with it though. But I’ve always been interested in fashion design.”

Kristoff laughed and nodded, squishing his marshmallow between graham crackers. “That suits you, somehow. I could definitely see you doing that.

“You can?”

“Yeah.”

Anna turned her gaze back to the fire, slowly toasting the marshmallow at the end of her stick. No one in her entire life had made her feel like she could do whatever she wanted. Most people just assumed she was a hopeless trust fund baby who couldn’t help herself if her life depended on it. It felt… nice… to know that someone believed in her.

“...Thank you.”

She kind of wanted to stay here with him forever.

"You're welcome."


End file.
